SHAKESPEARE^ 


LEGAL    ACQUIRE 


% 


By  LOED  OAMPBEL 


TiC.  /^i7 


SHAKESPEARE'S 

LEGAL  ACQUIREMENTS  CONSIDEEED. 


Ex  Libris 
C.  K.  OGDEN 


SHAKE  SPEAEE'S 

LEGAL    ACQUIREMENTS 


CONSIDERED. 


By  JOHN  LOED  CAMPBELL,  LL.D,  F.E.S.E. 


A  LETTER  TO  J.  PAYNE  COLLIER,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 


Thou  art  clerkly,  thou  art  clerkly ! " 

Merry  Wives  of  Windsw. 


LONDON: 
JOHN   MUEEAY,  ALBEMAELE   STEEET. 

1859. 


LONIjON:    FEINTED   BY   >T.  CLOWES  AND  SONS,   STAMIOKD  frTKEET, 
AND  CUAIUKG   CUOSS. 


f^ 


^0  (X-d  SAisXA  BAPwBAiiA 

C5 


PREFACE. 


When  my  old  and  valued  friend,  Mr.  Payne  Collier, 
received  the  following  Letter,  which  I  Avrote  with  a 
view  to  assist  liim  in  his  Shakespearian  lucubrations,  he 
forthwith,  in  terms  which  I  should  like  to  copy  if  they 
were  not  so  complimentary,  strongly  recommended  me 
to  print  and  publish  it  in  my  own  name, — intimating 
that  I  might  thus  have  "  the  glory  of  placing  a  8tone  on 
the  lofty  CAIRN  of  our  immortal  bard."  If  he  had  said  a 
^^ pehhle"  the  word  would  have  been  more  appropriate. 
But  the  hope  of  making  any  addition,  even  if  infinitesi- 
mally  small,  to  tliis  gi-eat  national  moaument,  is  enough 
to  induce  me  to  follow  my  friend's  advice,  although  I  am 
aware  that  by  the  attempt  I  shall  be  exposed  to  some 
peril.  In  pointing  out  Shakespeare's  frequent  use  of 
law-phrases,  and  the  strict  propriety  with  which  he 
always  apphes  them,  the  Chief  Justice  may  be  hkened 
to  the  Gobbler,  who,  when  shown  the  masterpiece  of  a 
great  painter,  representing  the  Pope  surrounded  by  an 
interesting  liistorical  group,  could  not  be  prevailed  upon 


PKEFACE. 


to  notice  any  beauty  in  the  painting,  except  the  skilful 
stracture  of  a  slipper  worn  by  his  Holiness. 

Nevertheless  I  may  meet  with  kinder  critics,  and  some 
may  think  it  right  to  countenance  any  effort  to  bring 
about  a  "fusion  of  Law  and  Literature,"  which,  like 
"  Law  and  Equity,"  have  too  long  been  kept  apart  in 
England.  ^ 


Stratheden  House,  Jan.  1,  1859. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Introduction       9 

The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor        34 

Measure  FOR  Measure      36 

The  Comedy  of  Errors      38 

As  You  Like  It 40 

Much  Ado  about  Nothing        45 

Love's  Labour 's  Lost        47 

Midsummer  Night's  Dream       4^ 

The  Merchant  of  Venice         49 

The  Taming  of  the  Shrew       53 

All  '  s  Well  that  Ends  Well 56 

The  Winter's  Tale 59 

King  John 61 

King  Henry  the  Fourth,  Part  1 64 

King  Henry  the  Fourth,  Part  II 67 

King  Henry  the  Sixth,  Part  II 74 

Troilus  AND  Cressida        77 

King  Lear 79 

Hamlet ..  83 

Macbeth       89 

Othello        90 

Antony  and  Cleopatra     94 

Coriolanus 96 

EoMEO  AND  Juliet       97 

Poems 99 

Shakespeare's  Will 103 

Retrospect 107 


SHAKESPEAHE'S 

LEGAL  ACQUIEEMENTS  CONSIDEKED. 


To  J.  Payne   Collier^  Esq., 

Bivcrside,  Maidenhead^  Berks. 


Hartrigge,  Jedburgh,  N.  B., 
Septemher  l^th,  1858. 

My  dear  Mr.  Payne  Collier, 

Knowing  that  I  take  great  delight  in  Shake- 
speare's plays,  and  that  I  have  paid  some  attention  to 
the  common  law  of  this  realm,  and  recollecting  that 
both  in  my  '  Lives  of  the  Chancellors,'  and  in  my  '  Lives 
of  the  Chief  Justices,'  I  have  glanced  at  the  subject  of 
Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements,  you  demand  rather 
peremptorily  my  opinion  upon  the  question  keenly 
agitated  of  late  years,  whether  Shakespeare  was  a  clerk 
in  an  attorney's  office  at  Stratford  before  he  joined  the 
players  in  London  ? 

From  your  indefatigable  researches  and  your  critical 
acumen,  which  have  tin-own  so  much  new  light  upon 
the  career  of  our  unrivalled  dramatist,  I  say,  with  entire 

B 


10  SHAKESPEAKE's  legal  ACQUIEEMENTS.    [Lntrod. 

sincerity,  that  there  is  no  one  so  well  qualified  as  your- 
self to  speak  authoritatively  in  this  controversy,  and  I 
observe  that  in  both  the  editions  of  your  '  Life  of  Shake- 
speare' you  are  strongly  inclined  to  the  belief  that  the 
author  of  '  Hamlet'  was  employed  some  years  in  engross- 
ing deeds,  serving  writs,  and  making  out  bUls  of  costs. 

However,  as  you  seem  to  consider  it  still  an  open 
question,  and  as  I  have  a  little  leisure  during  this  long 
vacation,  I  cannot  refuse  to  communicate  to  you  my 
sentiments  upon  the  subject,  and  I  shall  be  happy  if, 
from  my  professional  knowledge  and  experience,  I  can 
afford  you  any  information  or  tlu-ow  out  any  hints  which 
may  be  useful  to  you  hereafter.  I  myself,  at  any  rate, 
must  derive  some  benefit  from  the  task,  as  it  will  for 
a  while  drive  from  my  mind  the  recollection  of  the 
wranglings  of  Westminster  Hall.  In  literary  pursuits 
should  I  have  wished  ever  to  be  engaged, — 

"  Me  si  fata  meis  paterentur  ducere  vitam 
Auspiciis,  et  sponte  mea  componere  curas." 

Having  read  nearly  all  that  has  been  written  on 
Shakespeare's  ante-Londinensian  life,  and  carefully  ex- 
amined his  writings  with  a  view  to  obtain  internal 
evidence  as  to  his  education  and  breeding,  I  am  obliged 
to  say  that  to  the  question  you  propound  no  positive 
answer  can  very  safely  be  given. 


IxTROD.]  A  CASE  FOR  A  JURY.  11 

Were  an  issue  tried  before  me  as  Chief  Justice  at  the 
Warwick  assizes,  "  whether  William  Shakespeare,  late  of 
Stratford-upon-Avon,  gentleman,  ever  was  clerk  in  an 
attorney's  office  in  Stratford-upon-Avon  aforesaid,"  I 
should  hold  that  there  is  evidence  to  go  to  the  jury 
in  support  of  the  affirmative,  but  I  should  add  that  the 
evidence  is  very  far  from  being  conclusive,  and  I  should 
tell  the  twelve  gentlemen  in  the  box  that  it  is  a  case 
entirely  for  their  decision, — without  venturing  even  to 
hint  to  them,  for  their  guidance,  any  opinion  of  my  own. 
Should  they  unanimously  agree  in  a  verdict  either  in  the 
affirmative  or  negative,  I  do  not  tliink  that  the  court, 
sitting  in  banco,  could  properly  set  it  aside  and  grant  a 
new  trial.  But  the  probability  is  (particularly  if  the  trial 
were  by  a  special  jury  of  Fellows  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries) that,  after  they  had  been  some  hours  in  delibera- 
tion, I  should  receive  a  message  from  them — "  there  is 
no  chance  of  our  agreeing,  and  therefore  we  wish  to  he  dis- 
charged ;"  that  having  sent  for  them  into  court,  and  read 
them  a  lecture  on  the  duty  imposed  upon  them  by  law 
of  being  unanimous,  I  should  be  obliged  to  order  them 
to  be  locked  up  for  the  night ;  that  having  sat  up  all 
night  without  eating  or  drinking,  and  "without  fire, 
candle-light   excepted,"  *   they  would  come  into  court 


*  Tliese  are  the  words  of  the  oath  administered  to  the  bailiff  into 
whose  custody  the  jurymen  are  delivered,     I  had  lately  to  deter- 

B    2 


12  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.   [Intuod. 


next  morning  pale  and  ghastly,  still  saying  "  we  cannot 
agree,"  and  that,  according  to  the  rigour  of  the  law,  I 
ought  to  order  them  to  be  again  locked  up  as  before  till 
the  close  of  the  assizes,  and  then  sentence  them  to  be  put 
into  a  cart,  to  accompany  me  in  my  progress  towards  the 
next  assize  town,  and  to  be  shot  into  a  ditch  on  the  con- 
fines of  the  county  of  Warwick. 

Yet  in  the  hope  of  giving  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury 
a  chance  of  escaping  these  horrors,  to  which,  according 
to  the  existing  state  of  the  law,  they  would  be  exposed, 
and  desiring,  without  departing  from  my  impartiality, 
to  assist  them  in  coming  to  a  just  conclusion,  I  should  not 
hesitate  to  state,  with  some  earnestness,  that  there  has 
been  a  great  deal  of  misrepresentation  and  delusion  as  to 
Shakespeare's  opportunities  when  a  youth  of  acquiring 
knowledge,  and  as  to  the  knowledge  he  had  acquired. 
From  a  love  of  the  incredible,  and  a  wish  to  make  what 
he  afterwards  accomplished  actually  miraculous,  a  band 
of  critics  have  conspired  to  lower  the  condition  of  his 
father,  and  to  represent  the  son,  when  approacliing  man's 
estate,  as  still  almost  wholly  illiterate.     We  have  been 


mine  whether  gas-lamps  could  be  considered  "  candle-light."  In 
favorem  vitce,  I  ventured  to  rule  in  the  affirmative  ;  and,  the  night 
being  very  cold,  to  order  that  the  lamps  should  be  liberally  supplied 
with  gas,  so  that,  directly  administering  light  according  to  law,  they 
might,  contrary  to  law,  incidentally  administer  hmt. 


Intuod.]  gentility  OF  HIS  FATHER.  13 

told  that  his  father  was  a  butcher  in  a  small  jjrovincial 
town ;  that  "  pleasant  Willy "  was  bred  to  liis  father's 
business ;  that  the  only  early  indication  of  genius  which 
he  betrayed  was  liis  habit,  while  killing  a  calf,  eloquently 
to  harangue  the  bystanders ;  that  he  continued  in  this 
occupation  tUl  he  was  obliged  to  fly  the  country  for 
theft ;  that  arriving  in  London  a  destitute  stranger,  he 
at  first  supported  himself  by  receiving  pence  for  holding 
gentlemen's  horses  at  the  theatre ;  that  he  then  con- 
trived to  scrape  an  acquaintance  with  some  of  the 
actors,  and  being  first  employed  as  prompter,  although 
he  had  hardly  learned  to  read,  he  was  allowed  to  j)lay 
some  very  inferior  parts  himself ; — and  that  without  any 
further  training  he  produced  '  Kichard  III.,'  '  Othello,' 
'  Macbeth,'  and  '  King  Lear.'  But,  whether  Shakespeare 
ever  had  any  juridical  education  or  not,  I  think  it  is 
established  beyond  all  doubt  that  his  father  was  of  a 
respectable  family,  had  some  real  property  by  descent, 
mamed  a  coheiress  of  an  ancient  house,  received  a  grant 
of  armorial  bearings  from  the  Heralds  with  a  recognition 
of  his  lineage,  was  for  many  years  an  Alderman  of  Strat- 
ford, and,  after  being  intrusted  by  the  Corporation  to 
manage  their  finances  as  Chamberlain,  served  the  office 
of  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  town.  There  are  entries  in  the 
Corporation  books  supposed  to  indicate  that  at  one  jieriod 
of  liis  life  he  was  involved  in  pecuniary  difficulties  ;  but 
this  did  not  detract  from  his  gentility,  as  is  proved  by  the 


14  SHAKESPEAEE's  legal  ACQUIEEMENTS.     [Introd. 

subsequent  confirmation  of  his  armorial  bearings,  with  a 
slight  alteration  in  his  quarterings, — and  he  seems  still 
to  have  lived  respectably  in  Stratford  or  the  neigh- 
bourhood* That  he  was,  as  has  been  recently  asserted, 
a  glover,  or  that  he  ever  sold  wool  or  butcher's  meat, 
is  not  proved  by  anything  like  satisfactory  evidence ; — 
and,  at  any  rate,  according  to  the  usages  of  society  in 
those  times,  occasional  dealings  whereby  the  o'WTier  of 
land  disposed  of  part  of  the  produce  of  it  by  retail 
were  reckoned  quite  consistent  with  the  position  of  a 
squire.  At  this  day,  and  in  our  own  country,  gentle- 
men not  unfiequently  sell  theii'  own  hay,  com,  and 
cattle,  and  on  the  Continent  the  high  nobility  are  well 


•  I  am  aware  of  your  suggestion  in  your  '  Life  of  Shakespeare,' 
that  the  first  grant  of  arms  to  the  father  was  at  a  subsequent 
time,  when  the  son,  although  he  had  acquired  both  popularity 
and  property,  was,  on  account  of  his  profession  (then  supposed 
to  be  unfit  for  a  gentleman),  not  qualified  to  bear  arms.  But  the 
"  Confirmation "  in  1596  recites  that  a  patent  had  been  before 
granted  by  Clarencieux  Cooke  to  John  Shakespeare,  when  chief 
magistrate  of  Stratford,  and,  as  a  ground  for  the  Confirmation,  that 
this  original  patent  had  been  sent  to  the  Heralds'  Office  when  Sir 
William  Dethick  was  Garter  King-at-Arms.  Against  this  positive 
evidence  we  lawyers  should  consider  the  negative  evidence,  that, 
upon  search,  an  entry  of  the  first  grant  is  not  found,  to  be  of  no  avail : 
and  there  could  be  no  object  in  forging  the  first  grant,  as  an 
original  grant  in  1596  would  have  been  equally  beneficial  both  to 
father  and  son. 


Intuoi).]  gentility  OF  HIS  FATHEK.  15 

pleased  to  sell  by  the  bottle  the  produce  of  their  vine- 
yards. 

It  is  said  that  the  worthy  Alderman  could  not  write 
his  own  name.  But  the  fac  simile  of  the  document 
formerly  relied  upon  to  establish  this  [an  order,  dated 
29th  Sept.,  7  Eliz.,  for  John  Wheeler  to  take  upon  him- 
self the  office  of  Bailiff,  signed  by  nineteen  aldermen 
and  burgesses]  appears  to  me  to  prove  the  contrary,  for 
the  name  of  31ot)n  »)^a0k0pCC  is  subscribed  in  a 
strong,  clear  hand,  and  the  mark,  supposed  to  be  his, 
evidently  belongs  to  the  name  of  ^IjOttta^  9D^;CUn  in 
the  line  below.*  You  tell  us,  in  your  latest  edition,  of  the 
production  of  two  new  documents  before  the  Shake- 
speare Society,  dated  respectively  3rd  and  9th  Dec, 
11  Eliz.,  which,  it  is  said,  if  John  Shakespeare  could 
have  WTitten,  would  have  been  signed  by  him, — whereas 
they  only  bear  his  mark.  But  in  my  own  experience 
I  have  known  many  instances  of  documents  bearing  a 
mark  as  the  signature  of  persons  who  could  write  well, 
and  this  was  probably  much  more  common  in  illiterate 
ages,  when,  documents  were  generally  authenticated 
by  a  seal.  Even  if  it  were  demonstrated  that  John 
Shakespeare  had  not  been  "  so  well  brought  up  that 


*  See  that  most  elaborate  and  entertaining  book,  Kniglit's  *  Life 
of  Shakspere,'  1st  ed.,  p.  16. 


16  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.   [Intkod. 

lie  could  write  his  name,"  and  that  "  he  had  a  mark 
to  himself  like  an  honest,  plain-dealing  man," — con- 
sidering that  he  was  born  not  very  long  after  the  wars 
of  the  Eoses,  this  deficiency  would  not  weigh  much  in 
disproving  his  wealth  or  his  gentility.  Even  supposing 
him  to  have  been  a  genuine  marksman,  he  was  only 
on  a  par  in  this  respect  with  many  persons  of  higher 
rank,  and  with  several  of  the  most  influential  of  his 
fellow  townsmen.  Of  the  nineteen  Aldermen  and  bur- 
gesses who  signed  the  order  referred  to,  only  seven 
subscribe  their  names  with  a  pen,  and  the  High  Bailiff 
and  Senior  Alderman  are  among  the  marksmen. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  clownish  condition  of 
John  Shakespeare,  that  the  "  Divine  Williams "  (as  the 
French  call  our  great  dramatist)  received  an  excellent 
school  education  can  hardly  admit  of  question  or  doubt. 
We  certainly  know  that  he  wrote  a  beautiful  and  busi- 
ness-like hand,  which  he  probably  acquired  early. 
There  was  a  free  grammar  school  at  Stratford,  founded 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.,  and  reformed  by  a  charter  of 
Edward  VI.  This  school  was  supplied  by  a  succession  of 
competent  masters  to  teach  Greek  and  Latin ;  and  here 
the  sons  of  all  the  members  of  the  corporation  were 
entitled  to  gratuitous  instruction,  and  mixed  with  the 
sons  of  the  neighbouring  gentry.  At  such  grammar 
schools,  generally  speaking,  only  a  smattering  of  Greek 
was   to    be   acquired,   but    the   boys   were   thoroughly 


INTROD.]  CULTIVATION  OF  HIS  MIND,  17 

grounded  in  Latin  grammar,  and  were  rendered  familiar 
with  the  most  popular  Koman  classics.  Shakespeare 
must  have  been  at  this  school  at  least  five  years.  His 
father's  supposed  pecuniary  difficulties,  which  are  said  to 
have  interrupted  his  education,  did  not  occur  till 
William  had  reached  the  age  of  14  or  15,  when,  accord- 
ing to  the  plan  of  education  which  was  then  followed, 
the  sons  of  tradesmen  were  put  out  as  apprentices  or 
clerks,  and  the  sons  of  the  more  wealthy  went  to  the 
university.  None  of  his  school  compositions  are  pre- 
served, and  we  have  no  authentic  account  of  his  progress  ; 
but  we  know  that  at  these  schools  boys  of  industry  and 
genius  have  become  well  versed  in  classical  learning. 
Samuel  Johnson  said  that  he  acquired  little  at  Oxford 
beyond  what  he  had  brought  away  with  him  from  Lich- 
field Grammar  School,  Avhere  he  had  been  taught,  like 
Shakespeare,  as  the  son  of  a  burgess ;  and  many  from 
such  schools,  without  further  regular  tuition,  have  dis- 
tinguished themselves  in  literature. 

It  is  said  that  *'the  boy  is  the  father  of  the  man;" 
and  knoAving  the  man,  we  may  form  a  notion  of  the  tastes 
and  habits  of  the  boy.  Grown  to  be  a  man,  Shakespeare 
certainly  was  most  industrious,  and  showed  an  insatiable 
thirst  for  knowledge.  We  may  therefore  fairly  infer, 
that  from  early  infancy  he  instinctively  availed  liimself 
of  every  opportunity  of  mental  culture, — 


18  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.   [Introd. 


"  What  time,  where  lucid  Avon  stray'd, 

To  him  the  mighty  mother  did  unveil 
Her  awful  face  : — the  daimtless  child 
Stretched  forth  his  little  arms,  and  smiled." 


The  grand  difficulty  is  to  discover,  or  to  conjecture 
with  reasonable  probability,  how  Shakespeare  was  em- 
ployed from  about  1579,  when  he  most  likely  left  school, 
till  about  1586,  when  he  is  supposed  to  have  gone  to 
London.     That  during  this  interval  he  was  merely  an 
operative,  earning  his  bread  by  manual  labour,  in  stitch- 
ing gloves,  sorting  wool,  or  killing  calves,  no  sensible 
man  can  possibly  imagine.     At  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  although  he  had  not  become  regularly  learned  as  if 
he  had  taken  the  degree  of  M.A.  at  Oxford  or  Cam- 
bridge, after  disputing  in  the  schools  de  omni  scibili  et  quo- 
lihet  ente, — there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  like  our  Scottish 
Burns,  his  mind  must  have  been  riclily  cultivated,  and 
that  he  had  laid  up  a  vast  stock  of  valuable  knowledge 
and  of  poetical  imagery,  gained  from  books,  from  social 
intercourse,  and  from  the  survey  of  nature.     Whoever 
believes  that  when  Shakespeare  was  first  admitted  to 
play  a  part  in  the  Blackfriars  Theatre  his  mind  was 
as   unfurnished  as  that  of  the   stolid  '  Clown '  in  the 
'  Winter's  Tale,'  who  called  forth  a  wish  from  liis  own 
father  that  "  there  were  no  age  between  ten  and  three 
and  twenty,"  will  readily  give  credit  to  all  the  most 


INTROD.]        OCCUPATIONS  AFTER  LEAVING  SCHOOL.  19 


extravagant    and    appalling    marvels    of   mesmerism, 
clairvoyance,  table-turning,  and  spirit-rapping. 

Of  Shakespeare's  actual  occupations  during  these 
important  years,  when  his  character  was  formed,  there 
is  not  a  scintilla  of  contemporary  proof ;  and  the  vague 
traditionary  evidence  which  has  been  resorted  to  was 
picked  up  many  years  after  his  death,  when  the  object 
was  to  startle  the  world  with  things  strange  and 
supernatural  respecting  him. — That  his  time  was  en- 
grossed during  tliis  interval  by  labouring  as  a  me- 
chanic, is  a  supposition  which  I  at  once  dismiss  as 
absurd. 

Aubrey  asserts  that  from  leaving  school  till  he  left 
Warwickshire  Shakespeare  was  a  schoolmaster.  If  this 
could  be  believed,  it  would  sufficiently  accord  with  the 
phenomena  of  Shakespeare's  subsequent  career,  except 
the  familiar,  profound,  and  accurate  knowledge  he  dis- 
played of  juridical  principles  and  practice.  Being  a 
schoolmaster  in  the  country  for  some  years  (as  Samuel 
Johnson  certainly  was),  his  mental  cultivation  would 
have  steadily  advanced,  and  so  he  might  have  been 
prepared  for  the  arena  in  which  he  was  to  appear  on  his 
arrival  in  the  metropolis. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  pedagogical  theory  is 
not  only  quite  unsupported  by  evidence,  but  it  is  not 
consistent  with  established  facts.  From  the  registration 
of  the  baptism  of  Shakespeare's  children,  and  other  well 


20  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements,   [Introd. 

authenticated  circumstances,  we  know  that  he  con- 
tinued to  dwell  in  Stratford,  or  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood, till  he  became  a  citizen  of  London:  there 
was  no  other  school  in  Stratford  except  the  endowed 
grammar  school,  where  he  had  been  a  pupil ;  of  this  he 
certainly  never  was  master,  for  the  imbroken  succession 
of  masters  from  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  till  the  reign  of 
James  I.  is  on  record ;  none  of  the  mob  who  stand  out 
for  Shakespeare  being  quite  illiterate  will  allow  that 
he  was  qualified  to  be  usher ;  and  there  is  no  trace 
of  there  having  been  any  usher  employed  in  this  school. 

It  may  likewise  be  observed  that  if  Shakespeare 
really  had  been  a  schoolmaster,  he  probably  would  have 
had  some  regard  for  the  "  order  "  to  which  he  belonged. 
In  all  his  dramas  we  have  three  schoolmasters  only,  and 
he  makes  them  all  exceedingly  ridiculous.  First  we  have 
Holofernes  in  'Love's  Labour's  Lost,'  who  is  brought 
on  the  stage  to  be  laughed  at  for  his  pedantry  and  his 
bad  verses;  then  comes  the  Welshman,  Sir  Hugh 
Evans,  in  the  '  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,'  who,  although 
in  holy  orders,  has  not  yet  learned  to  speak  the  English 
language ;  and  last  of  all.  Pinch,  ia  the  '  Comedy  of 
Errors,'  who  unites  the  bad  qualities  of  a  pedagogue  and 
a  conjuror. 

By  the  process  of  exhaustion,  I  now  arrive  at  the  only 
other  occupation  in  wliich  it  is  well  possible  to  imagine 
that  Shakespeare  could  be  engaged  during  the  period 


INTROD.]  WAS  HE  AN  attorney's  CLERK  ?  21 

we  are  considering — that  of  an  attorney's  clerk — first 
suggested  by  Chalmers,  and  since  countenanced  by 
Malone,  yourself,  and  others,  whose  opinions  are  entitled 
to  high  respect,  but  impugned  by  nearly  an  equal  num- 
ber of  biographers  and  critics  of  almost  equal  authority, 
— without  any  one,  on  either  side,  having  as  yet  discussed 
the  question  very  elaborately. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  no  established  fact 
with  which  this  supposition  is  not  consistent.  At  Strat- 
ford there  was,  by  royal  charter,  a  court  of  record,  with 
jurisdiction  over  all  personal  actions  to  the  amount  of 
301.,  equal,  at  the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of  Eli^iabeth, 
to  more  than  100?.  in  the  reign  of  Victoria.  This  court, 
the  records  of  which  are  extant,  was  regulated  by  the 
course  of  practice  and  pleading  which  prevailed  in  the 
superior  com*ts  of  law  at  Westminster,  and  employed  the 
same  barbarous  dialect,  composed  of  Latin,  English,  and 
Norman-French.  It  sat  every  fortnight,  and  there  were 
belonging  to  it,  besides  the  Town-clerk,  sis:  attorneys, 
some  of  whom  must  have  practised  in  the  Queen's  Bench 
and  in  Chancery,  and  have  had  extensive  business  in 
conveyancing.  An  attorney,  steward  of  the  Earl  of 
Warwick,  lord  of  the  manor  of  Stratford,  twice  a  year 
held  a  court  -  leet  and  view  of  frankpledge  there,  to 
which  a  jury  was  summoned,  and  at  which  constables 
were  appointed  and  various  presentments  were  made. 

If  Shakespeare  had  been  a  clerk   to   one  of  these 


22  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.   [Introp. 

attorneys,  all  that  followed  while  he  remained  at 
Stratford,  and  the  knowledge  and  acquirements  which 
he  displayed  when  he  came  to  London,  would  not  only 
have  been  within  the  bounds  of  possibility,  but  would 
seem  almost  effect  from  cause — in  a  natural  and  pro- 
bable sequence. 

From  the  moderate  pay  allowed  him  by  his  master 
he  would  have  been  able  decently  to  maintain  his  wife 
and  children ;    vacant  hours  would  have  been  left  to 
him  for  the  indulgence  of  his  literary  propensity  ;  and 
this  temporary  attention  to  law  might  have  quickened 
his  fancy, — although  a  systematic,  life-long  devotion  to 
it,  I  fear,  may  have  a  very  different  tendency.     Burke 
eloquently  descants  upon  the  improvement  of  the  mental 
faculties  by  juridical  studies  ;  and  Warburton,  Chatter- 
ton,  Pitt   the   younger,    Canning,  Disraeli,  and   Lord 
Macaulay  are  a  few  out  of  many  instances  which  might 
be  cited  of  men  of  brilliant  intellectual  career  who  had 
early  become  familiar  with  the  elements  of  jurisprudence. 
Here  would  be  the  solution  of  Shakespeare's  legalism 
which  has  so  perplexed  his  biographers  and  commen- 
tators,  and  wliich  Aubrey's    tradition    leaves  wholly 
unexplained.     We  should  only  have  to  recollect  the 
maxim  that  "  the  vessel  long  retains  the  flavour  with 
which  it  has  been   once   imbued."     Great   as   is   the 
knowledge  of  law  which  Shakespeare's  writings  display, 
and  familiar  as  he  appears  to  have  been  with  all  its 


Introd.]  was  he  an  attorney's  CLERK  ?  23 

forms  and  proceedings,  the  whole  of  this  would  easily 
be  accounted  for  if  for  some  years  he  had  occupied  a 
desk  in  the  office  of  a  country  attorney  in  good  busi- 
ness,— attending  sessions  and  assizes, — keeping  leets  and 
law  days, — and  perhaps  being  sent  up  to  the  metropolis 
in  term  time  to  conduct  suits  before  the  Lord  Chancellor 
or  the  superior  courts  of  common  law  at  Westminster, 
according  to  the  ancient  practice  of  country  attorneys, 
who  would  not  employ  a  London  agent  to  divide  their 
fees.* 


*  If  Shakespeare  really  was  articled  to  a  Stratford  attorney,  in  all 
probability  during  the  five  years  of  his  clerkship  he  visited  London 
several  times  on  his  master's  business,  and  he  may  then  have  been 
introduced  to  the  green  room  at  Black  friars  by  one  of  his  coimtry- 
men  connected  with  that  theatre. 

Even  so  late  as  Queen  Anne's  reign  there  seems  to  have  been 
a  prodigious  influx  of  all  ranks  from  the  provinces  into  the  metro- 
polis in  term  time.  During  the  preceding  century  Parliament 
sometimes  did  not  meet  at  all  for  a  considerable  number  of  years  ; 
and  being  summoned  rarely  and  capriciously,  the  "  London  season  " 
seems  to  have  been  regulated,  not  by  the  session  of  Parliament, 
but  by  the  law  terms, — 


•  and  prints  before  Term  ends." — Pope. 


WTiile  term  lasted,  Westminster  Hall  was  crowded  all  the  morning, 
not  only  by  lawyers,  but  by  idlers  and  politicians  in  quest  of  news. 
Term  having  ended,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  general  dispersion. 
Even  the  Judges  spent  their  vacations  in  the  country,  having  when 
in  to^Ti  resided  in  their  chambers  in  the  Temple  or  Inns  of  Coiu"t. 
The  Chiefs  were  obliged  to  remain  in  town  a  day  or  two  after  term 


24         Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.    [Introd. 

On  the  supposition  of  Shakespeare  having  been  an 
attorney's  clerk  at  Stratford  we  may  likewise  see  how, 
when  very  young,  he  contracted  liis  taste  for  thea- 
tricals, even  if  he  had  never  left  that  locality  till  the 
unlucky  affair  of  Sir  Thomas  Lucy's  deer.  It  appears 
from  the  records  of  the  Corporation  of  Stratford,  that 
nearly  every  year  the  town  was  visited  by  strolling 
companies  of  players,  calling  themselves  "the  Earl  of 
Derby's  servants,"  "  the  Earl  of  Leicester's  servants," 
and  "  Her  Majesty's  servants."  These  companies  are 
most  graphically  represented   to   us  by  the   strolling 


for  Nisi  Prius  sittings ;  but  the  Puisnes  were  entirely  liberated 
when  proclamation  was  made  at  the  rising  of  the  court  on  the  last 
day  of  term,  in  the  form  still  preserved,  that  "  all  manner  of 
persons  may  take  their  ease,  and  give  their  attendance  here  again 
on  the  first  day  of  the  ensuing  term,"  An  old  lady  very  lately 
deceased,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Justice  Blackstone,  who  was  a  puisne 
judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  and  lived  near  Abingdon,  used  to  relate 
that  the  day  after  term  ended,  the  family  coach,  with  four  black 
long-tailed  horses,  used  regularly  to  come  at  an  early  hour  to  Ser- 
jeants' Inn  to  conduct  them  to  their  country  house  ;  and  there  the 
Judge  and  his  family  remained  till  they  travelled  to  London  in 
the  same  style  on  the  essoin-day  of  the  following  term.  "When  a 
student  of  law,  I  had  the  honour  of  being  presented  to  the  oldest 
of  the  judges,  Mr.  Justice  Grose,  famous  for  his  beautiful  seat  in 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  he  leisurely  spent  a  considerable  part  of 
the  year,  more  majorum.  To  his  question  to  me,  "  Where  do  you 
live  ?  "  I  answered,  "  I  have  chambers  in  Lincoln's  Inn,  my  Lord." 
"  Ah  !  "  replied  he,  "  but  I  mean — luhen  term  is  over.'''' 


Introd.]         strolling  PLAYERS  AT  STRATFORD.  25 

players  in  '  Hamlet '  and  in  the  '  Taming  of  the  Shrew/ 
The  custom  at  Stratford  was  for  the  players  on  their 
arrival  to  wait  upon  the  Bailiff  and  Aldermen  to  obtain 
a  licence  to  perform  in  the  town.  The  Guildhall  was 
generally  allotted  to  them,  and  was  iitted  up  as  a  theatre 
according  to  the  simple  and  rude  notions  of  the  age. 
We  may  easily  conceive  that  Will  Shakespeare,  son  of  the 
chief  magistrate  who  granted  the  licence,  now  a  bustling 
attorney's  clerk,  would  actually  assist  in  these  proceed- 
ings when  his  master's  office  was  closed  for  the  day ; 
and  that  he  might  thus  readily  become  intimate  with 
the  manager  and  the  performers,  some  of  whom  were 
said  to  be  his  fellow  townsmen.  He  might  well  have 
officiated  as  prompter,  the  duty  said  to  have  been  first 
assigned  to  him  in  the  theatre  at  the  Black-friars.  The 
traveUing  associations  of  actors  at  that  period  consisted 
generally  of  not  more  than  from  five  to  ten  members ; 
and  when  a  play  to  be  performed  in  the  Guildhall  at 
Stratford  contained  more  characters  than  individuals  in 
the  list  of  strollers,  it  would  be  no  great  stretch  of 
imagination  to  suppose  that,  instead  of  mutilating  the 
piece  by  suppression,  or  awkwardly  assigniag  two  parts 
to  one  performer,  "  pleasant  Willy's "  assistance  was 
called  in;  and  our  great  dramatist  may  thus  have 
commenced  his  career  as  an  actor  in  his  native 
town. 

To  prove  that  he  had  been  bred  in  an   attorney's 

c 


26  SHAKESPEAKE's  legal  ACQUIEEMENTS.    [Introd. 

office,  tliere  is  one  piece  of  direct  evidence.  This  is  an 
alleged  libel  upon  him  by  a  contemporary — published 
to  the  world  in  his  lifetime — which,  if  it  do  actually 
refer  to  him,  must  be  considered  as  the  foundation  of  a 
very  strong  inference  of  the  fact. 

Leaving  Stratford  and  joining  the  players  in  London 
in  1586  or  1587,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  his  success 
was  very  rapid;  for,  as  early  as  1589,  he  had  actually 
got  a  share  in  the  Blackfriars  Theatre,  and  he  was  a 
partner  in  managing  it  with  his  townsman  Thomas 
Green  and  his  countryman  Eichard  Burbadge.  I  do 
not  imagine  that  when  he  went  up  to  London  he 
carried  a  tragedy  in  his  pocket  to  be  offered  for  the 
stage  as  Samuel  Johnson  did  '  Irene.'  The  more  pro- 
bable conjecture  is,  that  he  began  as  an  actor  on  the 
London  boards,  and  being  employed,  from  the  clever- 
ness he  displayed,  to  correct,  alter,  and  improve  dramas 
written  by  others,  he  went  on  to  produce  dramas  of  his 
own,  which  were  applauded  more  loudly  than  any  that 
had  before  appeared  upon  the  English  stage. 

"  Envy  does  merit  as  its  shade  pursue  ;" 

and  rivals  whom  he  surpassed  not  only  envied  Shake- 
speare, but  grossly  libelled  him.  Of  this  we  have  an 
example  in  '  An  Epistle  to  the  Gentlemen  Students 
of  the   Two  Universities,  by  Thomas  Nash,'  prefixed 


INTROD.]        ALLEGED  LIBEL  ON  SHAKESPEAEE.  27 

to  the  first  edition  of  Eobert  Greene's  'Menaphon' 
(whicli  was  subsequently  called  '  Grreene's  Aecadia  '), 
— according  to  the  title-page,  published  in  1589.  The 
alleged  libel  on  Shakespeare  is  in  the  words  following, 
viz. : — 

"  I  will  turn  back  to  my  first  text  of  studies  of  delight,  and  talk 
a  little  in  friendship  with  a  few  of  our  trivial  translators.  It  is  a 
common  practice  now-a-days,  amongst  a  sort  of  shifting  companions 
that  run  through  every  art  and  thrive  by  none,  to  leave  the  trade  of 
Noverint,  whereto  they  were  born,  and  busy  themselves  with  the 
endeavours  of  art,  that  could  scarcely  Latinize  their  neck-verse  if 
they  should  have  need;  yet  English  Seneca,  read  by  candle-light, 
yields  many  good  sentences,  as  hlood  is  a  beggar,  and  so  forth  ;  and 
if  you  intreat  him  fair,  in  a  frosty  morning,  he  will  afford  you  whole 
Hamlets ;  I  should  say  handfuls  of  tragical  speeches.  But  0  grief ! 
Tempus  edax  rerum — what  is  that  will  last  always  ?  The  sea 
exhaled  by  drops  will  in  continuance  be  dry;  and  Seneca,  let 
blood,  line  by  line,  and  page  by  page,  at  length  must  needs  die  to 
our  stage." 

Now,  if  the  innuendo  which  would  have  been  intro- 
duced into  the  declaration  in  an  action,  "  Shakespeare 
V.  Nash,"  for  this  libel  ( — "thereby  then  and  there 
meaning  the  said  William  Shakespeare  " — )  be  made 
out,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  remaining  innuendo 
"  thereby  then  and  there  meaning  that  the  said  William 
Shakespeare  had  been  an  attorney's  clerk,  or  bred  an 
attorney." 

In  Elizabeth's  reign  deeds  were  in  the  Latin  tongue  ; 

c  2 


28  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements,   [introd. 

and  all  deeds  poll,  and  many  other  law  papers,  began 
with  the  words  "  NOVERINT  universi  per  presentes " 
— "  Be  it  known  to  all  men  by  these  presents  that,  &c." 
The  very  bond  which  was  given  in  1582,  prior  to  the 
grant  of  a  licence  for  Shakespeare's  marriage  with  Ann 
Hathaway,  and  which  Shakespeare  most  probably  himself 
drew,  commences  "NOVERINT  universi  per  presentes." 
The  business  of  an  attorney  seems  to  have  been  then 
known  as  "the  trade  of  NOVERINT."  Ergo,  "these 
shifting  companions "  are  charged  with  having  aban- 
doned the  legal  profession,  to  which  they  Avere  bred; 
and,  although  most  imperfectly  educated,  with  trying  to 
manufacture  tragical  speeches  from  an  English  transla- 
tion of  Seneca. 

For  completing  Nash's  testimony  (valeat  quantum) 
to  the  fact  that  Shakespeare  had  been  bred  to  the  law, 
nothing  remains  but  to  consider  whether  Shakespeare  is 
here  aimed  at  ?  Noav,  independently  of  the  expressions 
"  whole  Hamlets  "  and  "  handfuls  of  tragical  speeches," 
which,  had  Shakespeare's  'Hamlet'  certainly  been 
written  and  acted  before  the  pubKcation  of  Nash's 
letter,  could  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  author's  inten- 
tion, there  is  strong  reason  to  believe  that  the  intended 
victim  was  the  young  man  from  Warwickshire,  who 
had  suddenly  made  such  a  sensation  and  such  a 
revolution  in  the  theatrical  world.  Nash  and  Robert 
Greene,  the  author  of  'Menaphon'    or   'Arcadia,'  the 


Introd.]  enmity  of  ROBERT  GREENE.  29 

work  to  which  Nash's  Epistle  was  appended,  were  very- 
intimate.  In  this  very  epistle  Nash  calls  Greene  "  sweet 
friend."  It  is  well  knoAvn  that  this  Eobert  Greene  (who, 
it  must  always  be  remembered,  was  a  totally  different 
person  from  Thomas  Green,  the  actor  and  part  pro- 
prietor of  the  Blackfriars  Theatre)  was  one  of  the  chief 
sufferers  from  Shakespeare  being  engaged  by  the  Lord 
Chamberlain's  players  to  alter  stock  pieces  for  the  Black- 
friars Theatre,  to  touch  up  and  improve  new  pieces  pro- 
posed to  the  managers,  and  to  supply  original  pieces  of 
his  own.  Robert  Greene  had  been  himself  employed  in 
this  department,  and  he  felt  that  his  occupation  was 
gone.  Therefore,  by  publishing  Nash's  Epistle  in  1589, 
when  Shakespeare,  and  no  one  else,  had,  by  the  display 
of  superior  genius,  been  the  ruin  of  Greene,  the  two 
must  have  combined  to  denounce  Shakespeare  as  having 
abandoned  "  the  trade  of  Noverint "  in  order  to  "  busy 
himself  Avith  the  endeavours  of  art,"  and  to  furnish 
tragical  speeches  from  the  translation  of  Seneca. 

In  1592  Greene  followed  up  the  attack  of  1589  in  a 
tract  called  '  The  Groatsworth  of  Wit.'  Here  he  does 
not  renew  the  taunt  of  abandoning  "the  trade  of  No- 
verint," which  with  Nash  he  had  before  made,  but  he 
pointedly  upbraids  Shakespeare  by  the  nickname  of 
Shake-scene,  as  "an  upstart  crow  beautified  with  our 
feathers,"  having  just  before  spoken  of  himself  as  "  the 
man  to  whom  actors  had  been  previously  beholding." 


30  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.   [Introd. 

He  goes  on  farther  to  allude  to  Shakespeare  as  one  wlio 
"supposes  he  is  as  well  able  to  bombast  out  a  blank 
verse  as  the  best  of  his  predecessors,"  as  "  an  absolute 
Johannes  Factotum,"  and  "  in  his  own  conceit  the  only 
Shake-scene  in  a  country."  In  1592  Kobert  Greene 
frankly  complains  that  Shake-scene  had  undeservedly 
met  with  such  success  as  to  be  able  to  drive  him 
(Greene)  and  others  similarly  circumstanced  from  an 
employment  by  which  they  had  mainly  subsisted.* 
This  evidence,  therefore,  seems  amply  sufficient  to  prove 
that  there  was  a  conspiracy  between  the  two  libellers, 
Nash  and  Eobert  Greene,  and  that  Shakespeare  was  the 
object  of  it. 

But  I  do  not  hesitate  to  believe  that  Nash,  in  1589, 
directly  alludes  to  '  Hamlet  '  as  a  play  of  Shakespeare, 
and  wishes  to  turn  it  into  ridicule.  I  am  aware  that  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  show  that  there  had  been  an 
edition  of  '  Menaphon'  before  1589  ;  but  no  cojjy  of  any 
prior  edition  of  it,  with  Nash's  Epistle  appended  to  it, 
has  been  produced.  I  am  also  aware  that  'Hamlet,'  in 
the  perfect  state  in  which  we  now  behold  it,  was  not 
finished  till  several  years  after;  but  I  make  no  doubt 


*  You  no  doubt  recollect  that  Robert  Greene  actually  died 
of  starvation  before  his  '  Groatsworth  of  Wit,'  in  which  he  so 
bitterly  assailed  Shakespeare  as  "  Shake-scene,"  was  published. 


INTROD.]  ELABOEATION  OF  HIS  PLAYS.  31 

that  before  the  publication  of  Nash's  Epistle  Shake- 
speare's first  sketch  of  his  play  of  '  Hamlet,'  taken  pro- 
bably from  some  older  play  with  the  same  title,  had 
been  produced  upon  the  Blackfriars  stage  and  received 
with  applause  which  generated  envy. 

From  the  saying  of  the  players,  recorded  by  Ben 
JoNSON,  that  Shakespeare  never  blotted  a  line,  an  er- 
roneous notion  has  prevailed  that  he  carelessly  sketched 
off  his  dramas,  and  never  retouched  them  or  cared  about 
them  after.  So  far  from  this  (contrary  to  modern  prac- 
tice), he  often  materially  altered,  enlarged,  and  improved 
them  subsequently  to  their  having  been  brought  out 
upon  the  stage  and  having  had  a  successful  run.  There 
is  clear  proof  that  he  wrote  and  rewrote  'Hamlet,' 
'  Eomeo  and  Juliet,'  '  The  Meny  Wives  of  Windsor,' 
and  several  other  of  his  dramas,  with  unwearied  pains, 
making  them  at  last  sometimes  nearly  twice  as  long  as 
they  were  when  originally  represented. 

With  respect  to  these  dates  it  is  remarkable  that  an 
English  translation  of  Seneca,  from  which  Shakespeare 
was  supposed  to  have  plagiarised  so  freely,  had  been 
published  several  years  before  Nash's  Epistle ; — and  in 
the  scene  with  the  players  on  their  arrival  at  Elsinore 
(if  this  scene  appeared  in  the  first  sketch  of  the  tragedy, 
as  it  probably  did,  from  being  so  essential  to  the  plot), 
Shakespeare's  acquaintance  with  this  author  was  pro- 
claimed  by  the  panegyric  of  Polonius  upon  the  new 


32         Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.    [Introd. 

company,  for  whom  "  Seneca  could  not  be  too  heavy  nor 
Plautus  too  light." 

Therefore,  my  dear  Mr.  Payne  Collier,  in  support  of 
your  opinion  that  Shakespeare  had  been  bred  to  the 
profession  of  the  law  in  an  attorney's  office,  I  think  you 
will  be  justified  in  saying  that  the  fact  was  asserted 
pubKcly  in  Shakespeare's  lifetime  by  two  contemporaries 
of  Shakespeare,  who  were  engaged  in  the  same  pursuits 
with  himself,  who  must  have  known  him  well,  and  who 
were  probably  acquainted  with  the  whole  of  his  career. 

I  must  likewise  admit  that  this  assertion  is  strongly 
corroborated  by  internal  evidence  to  be  found  in 
Shakespeare's  writings.  I  have  once  more  perused  the 
whole  of  his  dramas,  that  I  might  more  satisfactorily 
answer  your  question,  and  render  you  some  assistance 
in  finally  coming  to  a  right  conclusion. 

In  '  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,'  '  Twelfth  Night,' 
'  Julius  Csesar,'  'Cymbeline,'  'Timon  of  Athens,'  'The 
Tempest,'  '  King  Richard  II.,'  '  King  Henry  V.,'  '  King 
Henry  VI.  Part  I.,'  '  King  Henry  VI.  Part  III.,'  '  King 
Eichard  III.,'  'King  Henry  VIII.,'  'Pericles  of  Tyre,' 
and  *  Titus  Andronicus  ' — fourteen  of  the  thirty-seven 
dramas  generally  attributed  to  Shakesj)eare — I  find 
nothing  that  fairly  bears  upon  this  controversy.  Of 
course  I  had  only  to  look  for  expressions  and  allusions 
that  must  be  supposed  to  come  from  one  who  has  been 
a  professional  lawyer.     Amidst  the  seducing  beauties  of 


INTROD.]  AREANGEMENT  OF  EXTRACTS.  33 

sentiment  and  language  througli  which  I  had  to  pick 
my  way,  I  may  have  overlooked  various  specimens  of 
the  article  of  which  I  was  in  quest,  which  would  have 
been  accidentally  valuable,  although  intrinsically  worth- 
less. 

However,  from  each  of  the  remaining  twenty-three 
dramas  I  have  made  extracts  wliich  I  tliink  are  well 
worth  your  attention.  These  extracts  I  will  now  lay 
before  you,  with  a  few  explanatory  remarks, — which 
perhaps  you  will  think  demonstrably  prove  that  your 
correspondent  is  a  lawyer,  and  nothing  but  a  lawyer. 

I  thought  of  grouping  the  extracts  as  they  may  be 
supposed  to  apply  to  particular  heads  of  law  or  particular 
legal  phrases,  but  I  found  this  impracticable  ;  and  I  am 
driven  to  examine  seriatim  the  dramas  from  which  the 
extracts  are  made.  I  take  them  in  the  order  in  which 
they  are  arranged,  as  "Comedies,"  "Histories,"  and 
"  Tragedies,"  in  the  folio  of  1623,  the  earliest  authority 
for  the  whole  collection. 


34       Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.   [Comedies. 


^t  gl^rrg  mx^tB  of  Mmbs0r, 


In  Act  II.  Sc.  2,  where  Ford,  under  the  name  of 
Master  Brook,  tries  to  induce  Falstaff  to  assist  him  in 
his  intrigue  with  Mrs.  Ford,  and  states  that  from  all  the 
trouble  and  money  he  had  bestowed  upon  her  he  had 
had  no  beneficial  return,  we  have  the  following  question 
and  answer : — 

Fal.  Of  what  quality  was  your  love,  then  ? 

Ford.  Like  a  fair  house  built  upon  another  man's  ground ;  so 
that  /  have  lost  my  edifice  hy  mistahing  the  place  where  I  erected  it. 

Now  this  shows  in  Shakespeare  a  knowledge  of  the 
law  of  real  property,  not  generally  possessed.  The  un- 
learned would  suppose  that  if,  by  mistake,  a  man  builds 
a  fine  house  on  the  land  of  another,  when  he  discovers 
his  error  he  will  be  permitted  to  remove  all  the  materials 
of  the  structure,  and  particularly  the  marble  pOlars  and 
carved  cliimney-pieces  with  which  he  has  adorned  it; 
but  Shakespeare  knew  better.  He  was  aware  that,  being 
fixed  to  the  freehold,  the  absolute  property  in  them 
belonged  to  the  owner  of  the  soil,  and  he  recollected  the 
maxim,  Cujus  est  solum,  ejus  est  usqite  ad  caelum. 


Comedies.]        THE  MERRY  WIVES  OF  WINDSOR.  35 

Afterwards,  in  writing  the  second  scene  of  Act  iv., 
Shakespeare's  head  was  so  full  of  the  recondite  terms 
of  the  law,  that  he  makes  a  lady  thus  pour  them  out, 
in  a  confidential  tete-a-tete  conversation  with  another 
lady,  while  discoursing  of  the  revenge  they  two  should 
take  upon  an  old  gentleman  for  having  made  an  unsuc- 
cessful attempt  upon  their  virtue  : — 

Mrs.  Page.  I'll  have  the  cudgel  hallowed,  and  hung  o'er  the  altar  : 
it  hath  done  meritorious  service. 

Mrs.  Ford.  What  think  you  ?  May  we,  with  the  warrant  of 
womanhood,  and  the  witness  of  a  good  conscience,  pursue  liim  with 
any  farther  revenge  ? 

Mrs.  Page.  The  spirit  of  wantonness  is,  sure,  scared  out  of  him : 
if  the  devil  have  him  not  ^?i  fee  simple,  loith  fine  and  recovery,  he 
will  never,  I  think,  in  the  way  of  waste,  attempt  us  again. 

This  Merry  Wife  of  Windsor  is  supposed  to  know 
that  the  highest  estate  which  the  devil  could  hold  in 
any  of  his  victims  was  a  fee  simple,  strengthened  by  fine 
and  recovery.  Shakespeare  himself  may  probably  have 
become  aware  of  the  law  upon  the  subject,  when  it  was 
explained  to  him  in  answer  to  questions  he  put  to  the 
attorney,  his  master,  while  engrossing  the  deeds  to  be 
executed  upon  the  purchase  of  a  Warwickshire  estate 
with  a  doubtful  title. 


36       Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.    [Comedies. 


hnnnxt  fox  Mt^asitn. 


In  Act  I.  Sc.  2,  tlie  old  lady  who  had  kept  a  lodging- 
house  of  a  disreputable  character  in  the  suburbs  of 
Vienna  being  thrown  into  despair  by  the  proclamation 
that  all  such  houses  in  the  subiu'bs  must  be  plucked 
down,  the  Clown  thus  comforts  her : — 

Clo.  Come  ;  fear  not  yoii :  good  counsellor's  lack  no  clients. 

This  comparison  is  not  very  flattering  to  the  bar,  but 
it  seems  to  show  a  familiarity  with  both  the  professions 
alluded  to. 


In  Act  II.  Sc.  1,  the  ignorance  of  special  pleading 
and  of  the  nature  of  actions  at  law  betrayed  by  Elbow, 
the  constable,  when  slandered,  is  ridiculed  by  the  Lord 
Escalus  in  a  manner  which  proves  that  the  comjDoser 
of  tlie  dialogue  was  himself  fully  initiated  in  these 
mysteries : — 

Elbow.  Oh,  thou  caitiff!  Oh,  thou  varlet!  Oh,  thou  wicked 
Hannibal  I  I  respected  with  her,  before  I  was  married  to  her  ? — If 
ever  I  was  respected  with  her,  or  she  with  me,  let  not  your  worshiji 
think  me  the  poor  duke's  officer. — Prove  this,  thou  wicked  Han- 
nibal, or  I'll  have  mine  action  of  battery  on  thee. 

Escal.  If  he  took  you  a  box  o'  th'  ear,  you  might  have  j-our 
action  of  shmder  too. 


Comedies.]  MEASURE  FOR  MEASURE.  37 

The  manner  in  which,  in  Act  in.  Sc.  2,  Escalus 
designates  and  talks  of  Angelo,  with  whom  he  was 
joined  in  commission  as  Judge,  is  so  like  the  manner 
in  wliich  one  English  Judge  designates  and  talks  of 
another,  that  it  countenances  the  supposition  that 
Shakespeare  may  often,  as  an  attorney's  clerk,  have 
been  in  the  presence  of  English  Judges  : — 

Escal.  Provost,  viy  brother  Angelo  will  not  be  altered  ;  Clandio 
must  die  to-morrow.  *  *  *  j£  ^^^  brother  wrought  by  my  pity, 
it  should  not  be  so  with  him.  *  ♦  *  j  i^^ve  laboured  for  the 
poor  gentleman  to  the  extremest  shore  of  my  modesty ;  but  my 
brother  Justice  have  I  foi;nd  so  severe,  that  he  hath  forced  me  to 
tell  him,  he  is  indeed — Justice,* 


Even  where  Shakespeare  is  most  solemn  and  sublime, 
his  sentiments  and  language  seem  sometimes  to  take  a 
tinge  from  liis  early  pursuits, — as  may  be  observed  from 
a  beautiful  passage  in  this  play, — which,  lest  I  should 
be  thought  guilty  of  irreverence,  I  do  not  venture  to 
comment  upon  : — 


*  I  am  glad  to  observe  that  our  "brethren"  in  America  adhere  to 
the  old  phraseology  of  Westminster  Hall.  A  Chief  Justice  in  New 
England  thus  concludes  a  very  sound  judginent : — "  My  brother 
Blannerhasset,  who  was  present  at  the  argument,  but  is  prevented 
by  business  at  chambers  from  being  here  to-day,  authorises  me  to 
say  that  he  has  read  this  judgment,  and  that  he  entirely  concurs 
in  it." 


38  SHAKESPEAEE'S  legal  acquirements.    [Comedies. 


Angela.  Your  brother  is  a  forfeit  to  the  law. 

Isabella.  Alas !  alas ! 

Why,  all  the  souls  that  were,  were  forfeit  once  ; 
And  He  that  might  the  vantage  best  have  took 
Found  out  the  remedy :  How  would  you  be 
Jf  He,  which  is  the  top  of  judgment,  should 
But  judge  you  as  you  are  ?    0,  think  on  that ; 
And  mercy  then  will  breathe  within  your  lips, 
Like  man  new  made. 

(Act  II.  Sc.  2.) 


^^t  C0mebw  of  Errors. 


The  following  is  part  of  the  dialogue  between  Anti- 
pholus  of  Syracuse  and  his  man  Dromio,  in  Act  ii. 
Sc.  2 :— 

D}-o.  S.  There's  no  time  for  a  man  to  recover  his  hair,  that  gi-ows 
bald  by  nature. 

Ant.  S.  May  he  not  do  it  hy  fine  and  recovery  f 

Dro.  S.  Yes,  to  pay  a  fine  for  a  periwig,  and  recover  the  lost  hair 
of  another  man. 

These  jests  cannot  be  supposed  to  arise  from  an3i;hing 
in  the  laws  or  customs  of  Syracuse ;  but  they  show  the 
author  to  be  very  familiar  with  some  of  the  most 
abstruse  proceedings  in  English  jurisprudence. 


Comedies.]  THE  COMEDY  OF  ERRORS.  39 

In  Act  IV.  Sc.  2,  Adriana  asks  Dromio  of  Syracuse, 
"  Wliere  is  thy  master,  Dromio  ?  Is  lie  weU  ?"  and 
Dromio  replies — 

No,  he's  in  Tartar  limbo,  worse  than  hell : 
A  devil  in  an  everlasting  garment  hath  him, 
One  whose  hard  heart  is  button'd  up  with  steel ; 
A  fiend,  a  fairy,  pitiless  and  rough ; 
A  wolf;  nay  worse,  a  fellow  all  in  buff; 
A  back-friend,  a  shoulder-clapper,  one  that  countermands 
The  i^assages  and  alleys,  creeks,  and  narrow  lands  : 
A  hound  that  nms  counter,  and  yet  draws  diy-foot  well; 
One  that  hefore  the  judgment  cames  poor  souls  to  hell. 
Adr.  Why,  man,  what  is  the  matter  ? 
Dro.  S.  I  do  not  know  the  matter ;  he  is  tested  on  the  case. 
Adr.  What,  is  he  arrested  ?  tell  me  at  whose  suit. 
Dro.  S.  I  know  not  at  whose  suit  he  is  arrested,  well 
But  he's  in  a  suit  of  buff  which  'rested  him,  that  can  I  tell.  *  *  * 

Adr.  *  *  *  This  I  wonder  at : 
That  he,  unknown  to  me,  should  be  in  debt. 
Tell  me,  was  he  arrested  on  a  bond  ? 

Dro.  S.  Not  on  a  bond,  but  on  a  stronger  thing  : 
A  chain,  a  chain ! 

Here  we  have  a  most  circumstantial  and  graphic 
account  of  an  English  arrest  on  mesne  process  ["  before 
judgment"],  in  an  action  on  the  case,  for  the  price 
of  a  gold  chain,  by  a  sheriff's  officer,  or  bum-bailiff, 
in  his  buff  costume,  and  carrying  his  prisoner  to  a 
sponging-house — a  spectacle  which  might  often  have 
been  seen  by  an  attorney's  clerk.  A  fellow-student 
of  mine  (since  an  eminent  Judge),  being  sent  to  an 
attorney's  office,  as  part  of  his  legal  education,  used  to 


40  SHAKESPEAKE's  legal  acquirements.   [Comedies. 


accompany  tlie  slieriff's  officer  when  making  captions 
on  mesne  process,  tliat  he  might  enjoy  the  whole  feast 
of  a  law-suit  from  the  egg  to  the  apples — and  he  was 
fond  of  giving  a  similar  account  of  this  jDroceeding, — 
which  was  then  constantly  occurring,  but  which,  lilce 
"  Trial  by  Battle,"  may  now  be  considered  obsolete. 


S.S  mx  jxh  SI 


In  Act  I.  Sc.  2,  Shakespeare  makes  the  lively  Kosa- 
lind,  who,  although  weU  versed  in  poesy  and  books  of 
cliivab-y,  had  probably  never  seen  a  bond  or  a  law- 
paper  of  any  sort  in  her  life,  quite  familiar  with  the 
commencement  of  all  deeds  poll,  which  in  Latin  was, 
Noverint  universi  per  presentes,  in  English,  "  Be  it  known 
to  aU  men  by  these  presents  "  : — 

Le  Beau.  There  comes  an  old  man  and  his  three  sons, — 

Cel.  I  could  match  this  beginning  with  an  old  tale. 

Le  Beau.  Three  proper  young  men,  of  excellent  growth  and 
presence ; — 

Bos.  With  bills  on  their  necks, — "  Be  it  known  unto  all  men  hy 
these  presents" — 

This  is  the  technical  phraseology  referred  to  by 
Thomas  Nash  in  his  'Epistle  to  the  Gentlemen  Stu- 


Comedies.]  AS  YOU  LIKE  IT.  41 

dents  of  the  two  Universities,'  in  the  year  1589,  when 
he  is  supposed  to  have  denounced  the  author  of 
'  Hamlet '  as  one  of  those  who  had  "  left  the  trade  of 
Noverint,  whereto  they  were  born,  for  handfuls  of  tra- 
gical speeches  " — that  is,  an  attorney's  clerk  become  a 
poet,  and  penning  a  stanza  when  he  should  engross. 

*  As  You  Like  It '  was  not  brought  out  until  shortly 
before  the  year  1600,  so  that  Nash's  Noverint  could  not 
have  been  suggested  by  it.  Possibly  Shakespeare  now 
introduced  the  "Be  it  known  unto  all  men,"  &c.,  in 
order  to  show  his  contempt  for  Nash's  sarcasm. 


In  Act  II.  Sc.  1,  there  are  illustrations  which  would 
present  themselves  rather  to  the  mind  of  one  initiated 
in  legal  proceedings,  than  of  one  who  had  been  brought 
up  as  an  apprentice  to  a  glover,  or  an  assistant  to  a 
butcher  or  a  woolstapler : — for  instance,  when  it  is  said 
of  the  poor  wounded  deer,  weeping  in  the  stream — 

" thou  mak'st  a  testament 


As  worldlings  do,  giving  thy  sum  of  more 
To  that  which  hath  too  much." 

And  again  where  the  careless  herd,  jumping  by  him 
Avithout  greeting  him,  are  compared  to  "  fat  and  greasy 
citizens,','  who  look 

"  Upon  that  poor  and  broken  bankrupt  there," — 

D 


42  SHAKESPEAKE's  legal  acquirements.    [Comedies. 


without  pitying  his  sufferings  or  attempting  to  relieve 
his  necessities. 


It  may  perhaps  be  said  that  such  language  might  be 
used  by  any  man  of  observation.  But  in  Act  iii.  Sc.  1, 
a  deep  technical  knowledge  of  law  is  displayed,  how- 
soever it  may  have  been  acquired. 

The  usurping  Duke,  Frederick,  wishing  all  the  real 
property  of  Oliver  to  be  seized,  awards  a  writ  of  extent 
against  liim,  in  the  language  which  would  be  used  by 
the  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer — 

•  Duke  Fred.  Make  an  extent  upon  his  house  and  lands — 

an  extendi  facias  applying  to  house  and  lands,  as  a 
fieri  facias  would  apply  to  goods  and  chattels,  or  a 
capias  ad  satisfaciendum  to  the  person. 

So  m  '  King  Henry  VIII.'  we  have  an  equally  accu- 
rate statement  of  the  omnivorous  nature  of  a  wi'it  of 
Pe^munire.  The  Duke  of  Suffolk,  addressing  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  says, — 

"  Lord  Cardinal,  the  King's  further  pleasure  is, 
Because  all  those  things  you  have  done  of  late 
By  your  power  legatine  within  this  kingdom 
Fall  into  the  compass  of  a  prcemunire. 
That  therefore  such  a  writ  be  sued  against  you, 
To  forfeit  all  your  goods,  lands,  tenements, 
Chattels,  and  whatsoever,  and  to  he 
Out  of  the  King's  protection." 


Comedies.]  AS  YOU  LIKE  IT.  43 

In  the  next  scene  of  '  As  You  Like  It '  Shakespeare 
shows  that  he  was  weU  acquainted  with  lawyers  them- 
selves and  the  vicissitudes  of  their  lives.  Rosalind 
having  told  "  who  Time  ambles  withal,  who  Time  trots 
withal,  who  Time  gallops  withal,"  being  asked,  "  Who 
Time  stands  still  withal  ?"  answers — 

With  lawyers  in  the  vacation ;  for  they  sleep  between  term  and 
term,  and  then  they  perceive  not  how  Time  moves. 

Our  great  poet  had  probably  observed  that  some 
lawyers  have  little  enjoyment  of  the  vacation  after  a 
very  few  weeks,  and  that  they  again  long  for  the  excite- 
ment of  arguing  demurrers  and  pocketing  fees. 


In  the  first  scene  of  Act  iv.  Shakespeare  gives  us  the 
true  legal  meaning  of  the  word  "  attorney,'^  viz.  repre- 
sentative or  deputy.  [Celui  qui  vient  a  tour  d'autrui ; 
Qui  alterius  vices  subit ;  Legatus ;  Vakeel.] 

Eos.  Well,  in  her  person  I  say — I  will  not  have  you. 

Orl.  Then,  in  my  own  person,  I  die. 

Eos.  No,  faith,  die  by  attorney.  The  poor  world  is  almost  six 
thousand  years  old,  and  in  all  this  time  there  was  not  any  man  died 
in  his  own  person,  videlicet,  in  a  love-cause.* 


*  So  in  'Richard  III.,'  Act  iv.  Sc.  4,  the  crook-backed  tyrant, 
after  murdering  the  infant  sous  of  Edward  IV.,  audaciously  pro- 

D   2 


44  SHAKESPEARE  S  LEGAL  ACQUIREMENTS.    [Comedies. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  tliat  in  our  time  tlie  once  most 
respectable  word  "attorney"  seems  to  have  gained  a 
new  meaning,  viz.  "  a  disreputable  legal  practitioner ;" 
so  that  attorneys  at  law  consider  themselves  treated 
discourteously  Avhen  they  are  called  "  Attorneys."  They 
now  all  wish  to  be  called  Solicitors,  when  doing  the 
proper  business  of  attorneys  in  the  Courts  of  Common 
Law.  Most  sincerely  honouring  this  branch  of  our 
profession,  if  it  would  please  them,  I  am  ready  to  sup- 
port a  bill  "  to  prohibit  the  use  of  the  word  Attorney, 
and  to  enact  that  on  all  occasions  the  word  Solicitor 
shall  be  used  instead  thereof." 

Near  the  end  of  the  same  scene  Shakespeare  again 
evinces  his  love  for  legal  phraseology  and  imagery  by 
converting  Time  into  an  aged  Judge  of  Assize,  sitting 
on  the  Crown  side  : — 

Bos.  Well,  Time  is  the  old  Justice  that  examines  all  such 
offenders,  and  let  Time  try. 

As  in  '  Troilus  and  Cressida '  (Act  iv.  Sc.  5)  Shake- 
speare makes  Time  an  Arbitrator : — 

"  And  that  old  common  Arbitrator,  Time, 
Will  one  day  end  it." 

looses  to  their  mother  to  marry  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  their  sister, 
and  wishing  the  Queen  to  intercede  with  her  in  his  favour,  says — 

Be  the  attorney  of  my  love  to  her. 

Again  in  the  same   play  (Act  v.  Sc.  3)   Lord    Stanley,  meeting 
Richmond  on  the  field  at  Bosworth,  says — 

1  by  attorney  bless  thee  from  thy  mother. 


Comedies.]  MUCH  ADO  ABOUT  NOTHING.  45 


im^  %^a  %honi  ITol^mg. 


It  lias  been  generally  supjjosed  that  Shakespeare,  in 
the  characters  of  Dogberry  and  Verges,  only  meant  to 
satirize  the  ignorance  and  folly  of  parish  constables — a 
race  with  which  we  of  this  generation  were  familiar  till 
the  establishment  of  the  metropolitan  and  rural  police ; 
but  I  cannot  help  suspecting  that  he  slily  aimed  at 
higher  legal  functionaries — Chairmen  at  Quarter-ses- 
sions, and  even  Judges  of  assize, — with  whose  perform- 
ances he  may  probably  have  become  acquainted  at 
Warwick  and  elsewhere. 

There  never  has  been  a  law  or  custom  in  England  to 
"  give  a  charge  "  to  constables ;  but  from  time  immemo- 
rial there  has  been  "  a  charge  to  grand  juries "  by  the 
presiding  judge.  Tliis  charge,  we  are  bound  to  believe, 
is  now-a-days  always  characterised  by  simplicity,  perti- 
nence, and  correctness,  although,  according  to  existing 
etiquette,  in  order  that  it  may  not  be  too  severely 
criticised,  the  barristers  are  not  admitted  into  the  Crown 
Court  tni  the  charge  is  over.  But  when  Justice  Shallow 
gave  the  charge  to  the  grand  jury  at  sessions  in  the 
county  of  Gloucester,  we  may  conjecture  that  some  of 
his  doctrines  and  directions  were  not  very  wise ;  and 
Judges  of  the  superior  courts  in  former  times  made 
themselves  ridiculous  by  expatiating,  in  their  charges  to 
grand  jm'ies,  on  vexed  questions  of  manners,  religion, 


46  SHAKESPEAEE's  legal  acquirements.    [Comedies. 

politics,  and  political  economy.  Dogberry  uses  the  very 
words  of  the  oath  administered  by  the  Judges'  marshal 
to  the  grand  jury  at  the  present  day  : — 

Keep  your  fellows'  counsels  and  your  own. 

(Act  m.  Sc.  3.) 


If  the  different  parts  of  Dogberry's  charge  are  strictly 
examined,  it  will  be  found  that  the  author  of  it  had  a 
very  respectable  acquaintance  with  crown  law.  The 
problem  was  to  save  the  constables  from  all  trouble, 
danger,  and  responsibility,  without  any  regard  to  the 
public  safety  : — • 

Dogh.  If  you  meet  a  thief,  you  may  suspect  him,  by  virtue  of 
your  office,  to  be  no  true  man  ;  and  for  such  kind  of  men,  the  less 
you  meddle  or  make  with  them,  why,  the  more  is  for  your  honesty. 

2  Watch.  If  we  know  him  to  be  a  thief,  shall  we  not  lay  hands 
on  him  ? 

Dogh.  Truly,  by  j^our  office  you  maj';  but,  I  thiuk,  they  that 
touch  pitch  will  be  defiled.  The  most  peaceable  way  for  you,  if 
you  do  take  a  thief,  is  to  let  him  show  himself  what  he  is,  and  steal 
out  of  your  company. 

Now  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Lord  Coke  himself 
could  not  more  accurately  have  defined  the  power  of  a 
peace-officer.  ' 

I  cannot  say  as  much  for  the  law  laid  down  by  Dog- 
berry and  Verges  ia  Act  iv.  Sc.  2,  that  it  was  "fiat 
perjury"  to  call  a  prince's  brother  villaui ;  or  "fiat 
burglary  as  ever  was  committed  "  to  receive  a  thousand 


Comedies.]  LOVe's  LABOUK  S  LOST.  47 

ducats  "  for  accusing  a  lady  wrongfully."  But  the 
di-amatist  seems  himself  to  have  been  well  acquainted 
with  the  terms  and  distinctions  of  our  criminal  code,  or 
he  could  not  have  rendered  the  blunders  of  the  parish 
officers  so  absurd  and  laughable. 


I0hc's  Sakur's  f0st. 


In  Act  I.  Sc.  1,  we  have  an  extract  from  the  Keport 
by  Don  Adriano  de  Armado  of  the  infraction  he  had 
witnessed  of  the  King's  proclamation  by  Costard  with 
Jaquenetta ;  and  it  is  drawn  up  in  the  true  lawyerHke, 
tautological  dialect, — which  is  to  be  paid  for  at  so  much 
a  folio : — 

Then  for  the  place  where  ;  where,  I  mean,  I  did  encounter  that 
obscene  and  most  preposterous  event  that  draweth  from  my  snow- 
white  pen  the  ehon-coloured  ink,  which  here  thou  viewest,  behold- 
est,  surveyest,  and  seest.  *  *  *  Him  I  (as  my  ever-esteemed 
duty  pricks  me  on)  have  seiit  to  thee  to  receive  the  meed  of  punish- 
ment, by  thy  sweet  Grace's  ofScer,  Antony  Dull,  a  man  of  good 
repute,  carriage,  bearing,  and  estimation. 

The  gifted  Shakespeare  might  perhaps  have  been 
capable,  by  intuition,  of  thus  imitating  the  conveyancer's 
jargon ;  but  no  ordinary  man  could  have  hit  it  off  so 
exactly,  without  having  engrossed  in  an  attorney's  office. 


48        Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Comedies. 


[tbswmm^r  Sijgfe^t's  gream. 


Egeus  makes  complaint  to  Theseus,  in  Act  i.  Sc.  1, 
against  his  daughter  Hermia,  because,  while  he  wishes 
her  to  marry  Demetrius,  she  prefers  Lysander ;  and  he 
seeks  to  enforce  the  law  of  Athens,  that  a  daughter,  who 
5«refases  to  marry  according  to  her  father's  directions, 
may  be  put  to  death  by  him : — 

And,  my  gracious  duke, 
Be  it  so,  she  will  not  here,  before  your  grace, 
Consent  to  marry  with  Demetrius. 
I  beg  the  ancient  privilege  of  Athens, 
As  she  is  mine,  I  may  dispose  of  her, 
Which  shall  be  either  to  this  gentleman 
Or  to  her  death,  according  to  our  law 
Immediately  provided  in  that  case. 

Commenting  on  this  last  line,  Steevens  observes, — 
"  Shakespeare  is  grievously  suspected  of  having  been 
placed,  while  a  boy,  in  an  attorney's  office.  The  line 
before  us  has  an  undoubted  smack  of  legal  common- 
place :  Poetry  disclaims  it," 

The  precise  formula — "  In  such  case  made  and  pro- 
vided " — would  not  have  stood  in  the  verse.  There  is 
certainly  no  nearer  approach  in  heroic  measure  to  the 
technical  language  of  an  indictment ;  and  there  seems 


Comedies.]  THE  MERCHANT  OF  VENICE.  49 

no  motive  for  the  addition  made  to  the  preceding  line, 
except  to  show  a  familiarity  with  legal  phraseology, 
which  Shakespeare,  whether  he  ever  were  an  attorney's 
clerk  or  not,  is  constantly  fond  of  displaying. 


C^^  glertljant  0f  §mm. 


In  Act  I.  Sc.  3,  and  Act  ii.  Sc.  8,  Antonio's  bond  to 
Shylock  is  prepared  and  talked  about  according  to  all 
the  forms  observed  in  an  English  attorney's  office.  The 
distinction  between  a  "  single  bill  "  and  a  "  bond  with  a 
condition  "  is  clearly  referred  to  ;  and  punctual  payment 
is  expressed  in  the  technical  phrase — "  Let  good  Antonio 
keep  his  day." 


It  appears  by  Act  iii.  Sc.  8,  between  Shylock,  Salarino, 
Antonio,  and  a  Jailer,  that  the  action  on  the  bond  had 
been  commenced,  and  Antonio  had  been  arrested  on 
mesne  process.  The  trial  was  to  come  on  before  the 
Doge ;  and  the  question  was,  whether  Shylock  was  en- 
titled to  judgment  specifically  for  his  pound  of  flesh,  or 
must  be  contented  with  pecuniary  damages. 


50  SHAKESPEAEE  S  LEGAL  ACQUIREMENTS.      [Comedies. 

Shylock  threatens  the  Jailer  witli  an  action  for 
"  escape "  for  allowing  Antonio  to  come  for  a  short 
time  beyond  the  walls  of  the  prison : — 

I  do  wonder, 
Thou  naughty  Jailer,  that  thou  art  so  fond 
To  come  abroad  with  him  at  his  request. 

Antonio  is  made  to  confess  that  Shylock  is  entitled 
to  the  pound  of  flesh,  according  to  the  plain  meaning 
of  the  bond  and  condition,  and  the  rigid  strictness  of 
the  common  law  of  England  : — 

Salarino.  I  am  sure  the  Duke 

Will  never  grant  this  forfeiture  to  hold. 

Antonio.  The  Duke  cannot  deny  the  course  of  law. 

All  this  has  a  strong  odour  of  Westminster  Hall. 


The  trial  comes  on  in  Act  iv.  Sc.  1,  and  it  is  duly 
conducted  according  to  the  strict  forms  of  legal  pro- 
cedure. Portia,  the  Podesta  or  judge  called  in  to  act 
under  the  authority  of  the  Doge,  first  inquires  if  there 
be  any  plea  of  non  est  factum. 

She  asks  Antonio,  "  Do  you  confess  the  bond  ?  "  and 
when  he  answers,  "  I  do,"  the  judge  proceeds  to  con- 
sider how  the  damages  are  to  be  assessed.  The  plaintiff 
claims  the  penalty  of  the  bond,  according  to  the  words 
of  the  condition ;  and  Bassanio,  who  acts  as  counsel  for 
the  defendant,  attempting  on  equitable  grounds  to  have 


Comedies.]  THE  MERCHANT  OP  VENICE.  51 

him  excused  by  paying  twice  the  sum  of  money  lent, 
or  ''  ten  times  o'er,"  judgment  is  given  : — 

Portia.  It  must  not  be.     There  is  no  power  in  Venice 
Can  alter  a  decree  establislied. 
'Twill  be  recorded  for  a  precedent, 
And  many  an  eiTor  by  the  same  example 
Will  rush  into  the  state.     *     *     * 

This  bond  is  forfeit, 
And  lawfully  by  this  the  Jew  may  claim 
A  pound  of  flesh,  to  be  by  him  cut  off 
Nearest  the  merchant's  heart. 

However,  oyer  of  the  bond  being  demanded,  the  judge 
found  that  it  gave  "  no  jot  of  blood ;"  and  the  result 
was  that  Shylock,  to  save  his  own  life,  was  obliged  to 
consent  to  make  over  all  his  goods  to  his  daughter 
Jessica  and  her  Christian  husband  Lorenzo,  and  liim- 
self  to  submit  to  Christian  baptism. 

Shakespeare  concludes  this  scene  with  an  ebullition 
which  might  be  expected  from  an  English  lawyer,  by 
making  Gratiano  exclaim, — 

In  christening  thou  shalt  have  tivo  godfathers  : 
Had  I  been  judge,  thou  shouldst  have  had  ten  more. 
To  bring  thee  to  the  gallows,  not  the  font — 

meaning  a  jury  of  twelve  men,  to  find  him  guilty  of  the 
capital  offence  of  an  attempt  to  murder  ; — whereupon  lie 
must  have  been  hanged. 


52  SHAKESPEAEE's  legal  acquirements.    [Comedies, 

I  may  further  observe  that  this  play,  in  the  last  scene 
of  the  last  act,  contains  another  palpable  allusion  to 
English  legal  procedure.  In  the  Court  of  Queen's 
Bench,  when  a  complaint  is  made  against  a  person  for 
a  '^contempt"  the  practice  is  that  before  sentence  is 
finally  pronounced,  he  is  sent  into  the  Crown  Office,  and 
being  there  "  charged  upon  interrogatories,"  he  is  made 
to  swear  that  he  will  "answer  all  tilings  faithfully." 
Accordingly,  in  the  moonlight  scene  in  the  garden  at 
Belmont,  after  a  partial  explanation  between  Bassanio, 
Gratiano,  Portia,  and  Nerissa,  about  their  rings,  some 
farther  inquiry  being  deemed  necessary,  Portia  says, — 

Let  us  go  in, 
And  charge  us  there  upon  inter^gatories. 
And  we  will  answer  all  things  faithfully. 

Gratiano  assents,  observing, — 

Let  it  be  so :  the  first  iuter'gatory 
That  my  Nerissa  shall  be  sworn  on  is, 
Whether  till  the  next  night  she  had  rather  stay, 
Or  go  to  bed  now,  being  two  hoxirs  to  day. 


Comedies.]  THE  TAMING  OF  THE  SHEEW.  53 


C^^  Camhi0  of  il^t  Sfjrtto. 


In  the  "  Induction  "  Shakespeare  betrays  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  matters  which  may  be  prosecuted  as 
offences  before  the  Court  Leet,  the  lowest  court  of 
criminal  judicature  in  England.  He  puts  this  speech 
into  the  mouth  of  a  servant,  who  is  trying  to  persuade 
Sly  that  he  is  a  great  lord,  and  that  he  had  been  in  a 
dream  for  fifteen  years,  during  which  time  he  thought 
he  was  a  frequenter  of  alehouses : — 

For  though  you  lay  here  iu  this  goodly  chamber, 
Yet  would  you  say,  ye  were  beaten  out  of  door, 
And  rail  upon  the  hostess  of  the  house, 
And  say  you  would  present  her  at  the  leet, 
Because  she  brought  stone  jugs,  and  no  sealed  quarts. 

Now,  in  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I.,  there 
was  a  very  wholesome  law,  that,  for  the  protection  of  the 
pubKc  against  "  false  measures,"  ale  should  be  sold  only 
in  sealed  vessels  of  the  standard  capacity  ;  and  the  viola- 
tion of  the  law  was  to  be  presented  at  the  "  Court  Leet," 
or  "View  of  Frankpledge,"  held  in  every  hundred, 
manor,  or  lordship,  before  the  steward  of  the  leet. 

Malone,  in  reference  to  this  passage,  cites  the  well- 
known  treatise  of  'Kitchen  on  Com-ts,'  and  also  copies 
a  passage  from  a  work  with  which  I  am  not  acquainted — 


64       Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements,    [comedies. 


'  Characterismi,  or  Lenton's  Leasiires,'  12mo.  1631 — 
which  runs  thus  : — "  He  [an  informer]  transforms  him- 
self^into  several  shapes,  to  avoid  suspicion  of  inneholders, 
and  inwardly  joyes  at  the  sight  of  a  blacke  pot  or  jiigge, 
knowing  that  their  sale  by  sealed  quarts  spoyles  his 
market." 


In  Act  I.  Sc.  2,  the  proposal  of  Tranio  that  the  rival 
lovers  of  Bianca,  while  they  eagerly  in  her  presence 
should  press  their  suit,  yet,  when  she  is  absent,  should 
converse  freely  as  friends,  is  illustrated  in  a  manner  to 
induce  a  belief  that  the  author  of  Tranio's  speech  had 
been  accustomed  to  see  the  contending  counsel,  when 
the  trial  is  over,  or  suspended, — on  very  familiar  and 
friendly  terms  with  each  other : — 

Tra.  Sir,  I  shall  not  be  slack  :  in  sign  whereof, 
Please  ye,  we  may  contrive  this  afternoon, 
And  quaff  carouses  to  our  mistress'  health  ; 
And  do  as  adversaries  do  in  law, 
Strive  7nightily,  but  eat  and  drink  as  friends. 

This  clearly  alludes  not  to  the  parties  litigating,  who, 
if  they  were  to  eat  and  drink  together,  would  generally 
be  disposed  to  poison  each  other,  but  to  the  counsel  on 
opposite  sides,  with  whom,  notwithstanding  the  fiercest 
contests  in  court,  when  they  meet  in  private  immediately 
after,  it  is  "  All  hail,  fellow,  and  well  met." 


CoMEDiKS.]  THE  TAMING  OF  THE  SHEEW.  55 

In  the  first  encounter  of  wits  between  Katlierine  and 
Petruchio,  Shakespeare  shows  that  he  was  acquainted 
with  the  law  for  regulating  "trials  by  battle"  betjveen 
champions,  one  of  which  had  been  fought  in  Tothill 
Fields  before  the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 

Kath.  What  is  your  crest  ?  a  coxcomb  ? 

Pet.  A  combless  cock,  so  Kate  will  be  my  lieu. 

Kath.  No  cock  of  miue ;  you  crow  too  like  a  craven . 

(Act  II.  Sc.  1.) 

This  all  lawyers  know  to  be  the  word  spoken  by  a 
champion  who  acknowledged  that  he  was  beaten,  and 
declared  that  he  would  fight  no  more : — whereupon 
judgment  was  immediately  given  against  the  side  which 
he  supported,  and  he  bore  the  infamous  name  of  Craven 
for  the  rest  of  his  days. 

We  have  like  evidence  in  '  Hamlet '  (Act  iv.  Sc.  4)  of 
Shakespeare's  acquaintance  with  the  legal  meaning  of 
this  word,  where  the  hero  says — 

Now,  wlietlier  it  be 
Bestial  oblivion,  or  some  craven  scruj^le 
Of  tliinking  too  precisely  on  th'  event. 


56       Shakespeare's  legal  acquieements.   [comedies. 


P's  Mtll  i\mi  (^itbs  Wdl 


lu  this  play  we  meet  with  proof  that  Shakespeare  had 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  law  of  England  respecting 
the  incidents  of  military  tenure,  or  teyiure  in  chivalry,  by 
which  the  greatest  part  of  the  land  in  this  kingdom  was 
lield  till  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  The  incidents  of  that 
tenure  here  dwelt  upon  are  "  ivardship  of  minors  "  and 
"  the  right  of  the  guardian  to  dispose  of  the  minor  in 
marriage  at  his  pleasure."  The  scene  lies  in  France, 
and,  strictly  speaking,  the  law  of  that  country  ought  to 
prevail  in  settKng  such  questions ;  but  Dr.  Johnson,  in 
his  notes  on  '  All  ^s  Well  that  Ends  Well,'  justly  intimates 
his  opinion  that  it  is  of  no  great  use  to  inquire  whether 
the  law  upon  these  subjects  was  the  same  in  France  as 
in  England,  "  for  Shakespeare  gives  to  all  nations  the 
manners  of  England," 

According  to  the  plot  on  which  this  play  is  con- 
structed, the  French  King  laboured  under  a  malady 
which  his  physicians  had  declared  incurable ;  and 
Helena,  the  daughter  of  a  deceased  physician  of  great 
eminence,  knew  of  a  cure  for  it.  She  Avas  in  love  with 
Bertram,  Count  of  Kousillon,  still  a  minor,  who  held 
large  possessions  as  tenant  in  eapite  under  the  crown, 
and  was  in  ward  to  the  King.  Helena  undertook  the 
cure,  making  this  condition : — 


Comedies.]         ALL 's  WELL  THAT  ENDS  WELL.  57 


Eel.  Then  slialt  thou  give  me  with  thy  kingly  liand 
Wliat  husband  in  thy  power  I  will  command. 

Adding,  however : — 

Exempted  be  from  me  the  an'ogance 

To  choose  from  forth  the  royal  blood  of  France     *     *     * 

But  such  a  one,  thy  vassal,  whom  I  know 

Is  free  for  me  to  ask,  thee  to  bestow.     (Act  ii.  Sc.  1.) 

She  effects  the  cure,  and  the  King,  showing  her  all  the 
noble  unmarried  youths  whom  he  then  held  as  wards, 
says  to  her — 

Fair  maid,  send  forth  thine  eye  :  this  youthful  parcel 
Of  noble  bachelors  stand  at  my  bestowing     *     *     * 

thy  frank  election  make  : 

Thou  hast  power  to  choose,  and  they  none  to  forsake. 

(Act  II.  Sc,  3.) 

Helena,  after  excusing  herself  to  several  of  the  others, 
comes  to  Bertram,  and,  covered  with  blushes,  declares 
her  election : — 

Eel.  I  dare  not  say  I  take  you ;  but  I  give 
Me  and  my  service,  ever  whilst  I  live, 
Into  your  guiding  power. — This  is  the  man. 

King.  Why  then,  young  Bertram,  take  her:   she's  thy  wife. 

Bertram  at  first  strenuously  refuses,  saying — 

In  such  a  business  give  me  leave  to  upcj 
The  help  of  mine  own  eyes. 

But  the  King,  after  much  discussion,  thus  addresses 
him : — 

E 


58       Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Comedies. 


It  is  in  us  to  plant  thine  honour  where 

We  please  to  have  it  grow.    Check  thy  contempt. 

Obey  our  will,  which  travails  in  thy  good.    *    *     *    * 

•  Take  her  by  the  hand, 

And  tell  her  she  is  thine.     *     +     * 

Bert.  I  take  her  hand.     (Act  il.  Sc.  3.) 

The  ceremony  of  marriage  was  immediately  performed, 
and  no  penalty  or  forfeiture  was  incurred.  But  the  law 
not  extending  to  a  compulsion  upon  the  ward  to  Kve 
with  the  wife  thus  forced  upon  him,  Bertram  escapes 
from  the  church  door,  and  abandoning  his  wife,  makes 
oif  for  the  wars  in  Italy,  where  he  unconsciously  em- 
braced the  deserted  Helena. 

For  the  cure  of  the  King  by  the  physician's  daughter, 
and  her  being  deserted  by  her  husband,  Shakespeare  is 
indebted  to  Boccaccio ;  but  the  wardship  of  Bertram,  and 
the  obligation  of  the  ward  to  take  the  wife  provided  for 
him  by  his  guardian,  Shakespeare  drew  from  liis  own 
knowledge  of  the  common  law  of  England,  wliich,  though 
now  obsolete,  was  in  full  force  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
and  was  to  be  found  in  Littleton.*  The  adventure  of 
Parolles's  drum  and  the  other  comic  parts  of  the  drama 
are  quite  original,  and  these  he  drew  from  his  own  inex- 
haustible fancy. 


*  However,  according  to  Littleton,  it  is  doubtful  whether  Bertram, 
without  being  liable  to  any  penalty  or  forfeiture,  might  not  have 
refused  to  marry  Helena, — on  the  ground  that  she  was  not  of  noble 
descent.  Tlie  lord  could  not  "  disparage "  the  ward  by  a  mesal- 
liance,— Co.  Litt.  80a, 


Comedies.]  THE  WINTER'S  TALE.  69 


CIj^  WlmWn  Ciilc. 


In  this  play,  Act  i.  Sc.  2,  there  is  an  allusion  to  a 
piece  of  English  law  procedure,  which,  although  it  might 
have  been  enforced  till  very  recently,  could  hardly  be 
known  to  any  except  lawyers,  or  those  who  had  them- 
selves actually  been  in  prison  on  a  criminal  charge, — 
that,  whether  guilty  or  innocent,  the  prisoner  was  liable 
to  pay  a  fee  on  his  liberation.  Hermione,  trying  to  per- 
suade Polixenes,  King  of  Bohemia,  to  prolong  his  stay  at 
the  court  of  Leontes  in  Sicily,  says  to  him — 

You  put  me  off  with  limber  vows  ;  but  T, 

Though  you  would  seek  t'  unsi^here  the  stars  with  oaths, 

Should  yet  say,  "  Sir,  no  going."     *     *     * 

Force  me  to  keep  you  as  a  prisoner. 

Not  like  a  guest ;  so  you  shall  pay  your  fees 

Wlien  you  depart,  and  save  your  thanks. 

I  remember  when  the  Clerk  of  Assize  and  the  Clerk 
of  the  Peace  were  entitled  to  exact  their  fee  from  all 
acquitted  prisoners,  and  were  supposed  in  strictness  to 
have  a  lien  on  their  persons  for  it.  I  believe  there  is  now 
no  tribunal  in  England  where  the  practice  remains,  ex- 
cepting the  two  Houses  of  Parliament ;  but  the  Lord 
Chancellor  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons 
still  say  to  prisoners  about  to  be  liberated  from  the 

E  2 


60  SHAKESPEAEE's  legal  acquirements.    [Comedies. 


custody  of  the  Black  Eod  or  the  Serjeant-at-Arms,  "  You 
are  discharged,  paying  your  fees'' 


When  the  trial  of  Queen  Hei-mione  for  high  treason 
comes  off  in  Act  iii.  Sc.  2,  although  the  indictment  is 
not  altogether  according  to  English  legal  form,  and 
might  be  held  insufficient  on  a  writ  of  error,  we  lawyers 
cannot  but  wonder  at  seeing  it  so  near  perfection  in 
charging  the  treason,  and  alleging  the  overt  act  com- 
mitted by  her  "  contrary  to  the  faith  and  allegiance  of  a 
true  subject." 

It  is  likewise  remarkable  that  Cleomenes  and  Dion, 
the  messengers  who  brought  back  the  response  from  the 
oracle  of  Delphi,  to  be  given  in  evidence,  are  sworn  to 
the  genuineness  of  the  document  they  produce  almost 
in  the  very  words  now  used  by  the  Lord  Chancellor 
when  an  officer  presents  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of 
Lords  the  copy  of  a  record  of  a  court  of  justice  : — 

You  here  shall  swear     *     *     * 

That  you,  Cleomenes  and  Dion,  have 

Been  both  at  Delphos ;  and  from  thence  have  brought 

The  seal'd-up  oracle,  by  the  hand  delivered 

Of  great  Apollo's  priest ;  and  that  since  then 

You  have  not  dar'd  to  break  the  holy  seal, 

Nor  read  the  secrets  in 't. 


I 


Histories.]  KING  JOHN.  61 


PiHig  |0!|it. 


In  Shakespeare's  dramas  founded  upon  Englisli 
history,  more  legalisms  might  have  been  expected ;  but 
I  have  met  with  fewer  than  in  those  which  are  taken 
from  the  annals  of  foreign  nations,  or  whicli,  without 
depending  on  locality,  "  hold  the  mirror  uj)  to  nature." 
This  paucity  of  reference  to  law  or  to  law  proceedings 
may,  perhaps,  in  part  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that, 
in  these  "Histories,"  as  they  were  called,  our  great 
dramatist  is  known  to  have  worked  upon  foundations 
ah-eady  laid  by  other  men  who  had  no  technical  know- 
ledge, and  in  several  instances  he  appears  only  to  have 
introduced  additions  and  improvements  into  stock  pieces 
to  revive  their  popularity.  Yet  we  find  in  several  of 
the  "  Histories,"  Shakespeare's  fondness  for  law  terms  ; 
and  it  is  still  remarkable,  that  whenever  he  indulges 
this  propensity  he  uniformly  lays  down  good  law. 

Thus  in  the  controversy,  in  the  opening  scene  of 
'King  John,'  between  Eobert  and  Philip  Faulcon- 
bridge,  as  to  which  of  them  was  to  be  considered  the 
true  hen-  of  the  deceased  Sir  Robert,  the  King,  in  giving 
judgment,  lays  down  the  law  of  legitimacy  most  per- 
spicuously and  soundly, — thus  addressing  Eobert,  the 
plaintiff : — 


C2  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.    [Histories. 


"  Sirrah,  your  brother  is  legitimate  : 
Your  father's  wife  did  after  wedlock  bear  him  ; 
And  if  she  did  play  false,  the  fraud  was  hers, 
Which  fault  lies  on  the  hazards  of  all  husbands 
That  marry  wives.     Tell  me,  how  if  my  brother, 
Who,  as  you  say,  took  pains  to  get  this  son, 
Had  of  your  father  claim'd  this  son  for  his  ? 
In  sooth,  good  friend,  your  father  might  have  kept 
This  calf,  bred  from  his  cow,  from  all  the  world : 
In  sooth,  he  might :  then,  if  he  were  my  brother's, 
My  brother  might  not  claim  him,  nor  your  father, 
Being  none  of  his,  refuse  him.     This  concludes — 
My  mother's  son  did  get  your  father's  heir  ; 
Your  father's  heir  must  have  your  father's  land." 

This  is  the  true  doctrine,  "Pater  est  quern  nuptice 
demonstrant." 

It  was  likewise  properly  ruled  that  the  father's  will, 
in  favour  of  his  son  Kobert,  had  no  power  to  dispossess 
the  right  heir.  Phihp  might  have  recovered  the  land, 
if  he  had  not  preferred  the  offer  made  to  him  by  his 
grandmother,  EHnor,  the  Queen  Dowager,  of  taking  the 
name  of  Plantagenet,  and  being  dubbed  Sir  Eichard. 


In  Act  II.  Sc.  1,  we  encounter  a  metaphor  which  is 
purely  legal,  yet  might  come  naturally  from  an 
attorney's  clerk,  who  had  often  been  an  attesting 
witness  to  the  execution  of  deeds.  The  Duke  of 
Austria,  having  entered  into  an  engagement  to  support 
Arthur  against   his  unnatural    uncle,  till  the  young 


HiSTOEiES.]  KING  JOHN.  63 

prince  should  be  put  in  possession  of  the  dominions  in 
France  to  which  he  was  entitled  as  the  true  heir  of  the 
Plantagenets,  and  should  be  crowned  king  of  England, 
says,  kissing  the  boy  to  render  the  covenant  more 
binding, 

"  Upon  thy  cheek  I  lay  this  zealous  kiss, 
As  seal  to  this  indenture  of  my  love.'" 


In  a  subsequent  part  of  this  play,  the  true  ancient 
doctrine  of  "  the  supremacy  of  the  crown  "  is  laid  down 
with  great  spirit  and  force ;  and  Shakespeare  clearly 
shows  that,  whatever  his  opinion  might  have  been 
on  speculative  dogmas  in  controversy  between  the 
Reformers  and  the  Romanists,  he  spurned  the  ultra- 
montane pretensions  of  the  Pope,  which  some  of  our 
Roman  Catholic  fellow  subjects  are  now  too  much  dis- 
posed to  countenance,  although  they  were  stoutly  re- 
sisted before  the  Reformation  by  our  ancestors,  who  were 
good  Catholics.     King  John  declares.  Act  iii.  Sc.  1, 

"  No  Italian  priest 
Shall  tithe  or  toll  in  our  dominions ; 
But  as  we  under  heaven  are  supreme  head, 
So,  under  heaven,  that  great  supremacy. 
Where  we  do  reign,  we  will  alone  uphold, 
Without  th'  assistance  of  a  mortal  hand. 
So  tell  the  Pope  ;  all  reverence  set  apart 
To  him  and  his  usurp'd  authority. 


64       Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Histories. 


King  Philip.  Brother  of  Euglaud,  you  blaspheme  in  this. 

Kiiig  John.  Though  you  and  all  the  kings  of  Christendom. 
Are  led  so  grossly  by  this  meddling  priest, 
Dreading  the  curse  that  money  may  buy  out, 
And  by  the  merit  of  vile  gold,  dross,  dust, 
Purchase  corrupted  pardon  of  a  man, 
Who  in  that  sale  sells  pardon  from  himself, — 
Though  you  and  all  the  rest,  so  grossly  led, 
This  juggling  witchcraft  with  revenue  cherish. 
Yet  I  alone,  alone  do  me  oppose 
Against  the  Pope,  and  count  his  friends  my  foes." 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  clear,  from  Shakespeare's 
portraitm'e  of  Friar  Lawrence  and  other  Eoman 
Catholic  ecclesiastics,  who  do  honour  to  their  church, 
that  he  was  no  bigot,  and  that  he  regarded  with  venera- 
tion all  who  seek  to  imitate  the  meek  example  of  the 
divine  founder  of  the  Christian  religion. 


Part  I. 


In  Act  III.  Sc.  1,  we  have  the  partition  of  England 
and  Wales  between  Mortimer,  Glendower,  and  Hotspur, 
and  the  business  is  conducted  in  as  clerk-like,  attoMiey- 
like  fashion,  as  if  it  had  been  the  partition  of  a  manor 


Histories.]      KING  HENRY  THE  FOURTH. — PART  I.  65 

between    joint    tenants,    tenants    in   common,   or    co- 
parceners. 

Glend.  Come,  here 's  the  map :  shall  we  divide  our  right, 
According  to  our  three-fold  order  ta'en  ? 

Mort.  The  archdeacou  hath  divided  it 
Into  three  limits  very  equally. 
England,  from  Trent  and  Severn  hitherto, 
By  south  and  east  is  to  my  part  assign'd  : 
And  westward,  Wales,  beyond  the  Severn  shore  : 
And  all  the  fertile  land  within  that  bound, 
To  Owen  Glendower : — and,  dear  Coz,  to  you 
The  remnant  northward,  lying  off  from  Trent ; 
And  our  indentures  tripartite  are  ok-awn. 
Which  being  sealed  interchangeably, 
(A  business  that  this  night  may  execute,) 
To-morrow,  cousin  Percy,  you  and  I, 
And  my  good  Lord  of  Worcester,  will  set  forth. 

It  may  well  be  imagined,  that  in  composing  this 
speech  Shakespeare  was  recollecting  how  he  had  seen 
a  deed  of  partition  tripartite  drawn  and  executed  in  his 
master's  office  at  Stratford. 

Afterwards,  in  the  same  scene,  he  represents  that  the 
unlearned  Hotspur,  who  had  such  an  antipathy  to 
"  metre  ballad-mongers  "  and  "  mincing  poetry,"  fully 
understood  this  conveyancing  proceeding,  and  makes 
him  ask  impatiently, 

"  Are  the  indentures  draion  f  shall  we  be  gone  ?" 

Shakespeare  may  have  been  taught  that  "  Kvery  of 
seisin  "  was  not  necessary  to  a  deed  of  partition,  or  he 


66  SHAKESPEAEE's  legal  acquirements.   [Histories. 

would  probably  have  directed  this  cereraony  to  com- 
plete the  title. 

So  fond  was  he  of  law  terms,  that  afterwards,  when 
Henry  IV.  is  made  to  lecture  the  Prince  of  Wales  on 
his  irregularities,  and  to  liken  him  to  Eichard  II.,  who, 
by  such  improper  conduct,  lost  the  crown,  he  uses  the 
forced  and  harsh  figure,  that  Eichard 

"  Enfeoffed  himself  to  popularity  "  (Act  iii.  Sc.  2). 

I  copy  Malone's  gpte  of  explanation  on  this  line: — 
"Gave  himself  up  absolutely  to  popularity.  A  feoff- 
ment was  the  ancient  mode  of  conveyance,  by  which  all 
lands  in  England  were  granted  in  fee-simple  for  several 
ages,  till  the  conveyance  of  lease  and  release  was 
invented  by  Serjeant  Moor  about  the  year  1630.  Every 
deed  of  feoffment  was  accompanied  with  livery  of  seisin, 
that  is,  with  the  delivery  of  corporal  possession  of  the 
land  or  tenement  granted  in  fee." 


To  "  sue  out  livery  "  is  another  law  term  used  in  this 
play  (Act  IV.  Sc.  3), — a  proceeding  to  be  taken  by  a 
ward  of  the  crown,  on  coming  of  age,  to  obtain  posses- 
sion of  his  lands,  which  the  king  had  held  as  guardian 
in  chivalry  during  his  minority.  Hotspur,  in  giving  a 
description  of  Hemy  the  Fourth's  beggarly  and  sup- 
pliant condition  when  he  landed  at  Eavenspurg,  till 
assisted  by  the  Percys,  says, 


Histories.]      KING  HENRY  THE  FOURTH. — PART  II.  G7 


"  And  when  he  was  not  six-and-twenty  strong, 
Sick  in  the  world's  regard,  wretched  and  low, 
A  poor  unminded  outlaw,  sneaking  home, 
My  father  gave  him  welcome  to  the  shore  : 
And  when  he  heard  him  swear,  and  vow  to  God, 
He  came  but  to  be  Duke  of  Lancaster, 
To  sue  his  livery,  and  beg  his  peace. 
With  tears  of  innocency  and  terms  of  zeal. 
My  father,  in  kind  heart  and  pity  mov'd, 
Swore  him  assistance." 


Part  II. 


Arguments  have  been  drawn  from  this  drama  agamst 
Shakespeare's  sup23osed  great  legal  acquirements.  It 
has  been  objected  to  the  very  amusing  interview,  in 
Act  I.  Sc.  2,  between  FalstafP  and  the  Lord  Chief 
Justice,  that  if  Shakespeare  had  been  much  of  a  lawyer, 
he  would  have  known  that  this  gi'eat  magistrate  could 
not  examine  offenders  in  the  manner  supposed,  and 
could  only  take  notice  of  offences  when  they  were 
regularly  prosecuted  before  him  in  the  Court  of  King's 
Bench,  or  at  the  assizes.  But  although  such  is  the 
practice  in  om-  days,  so  recently  as  the  beginning  of 


68         SHAKESPEAEE's  legal  acquirements.    [Histories. 

the  eigliteentli  century  that  illustrious  Judge,  Lord 
Chief  Justice  Holt,  acted  as  a  poHce  magistrate,  quell- 
ing riots,  taking  depositions  against  parties  accused, 
and,  where  a  prima  facie  case  was  made  out  against 
them,  committing  them  for  trial.  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Coke  actually  assisted  in  taking  the  Earl  and  Countess  of 
Somerset  into  custody  when  charged  with  the  murder  of 
Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  and  examined  not  less  than  three 
hundred  witnesses  against  them, — Avi'iting  the  deposi- 
tions with  his  own  hand.  It  was  quite  in  course  that 
those  charged  with  the  robbery  at  Gadshill  should  be 
"had  up"  before  Lord  Chief  Justice  Gascoigne,  and 
that  he  should  take  notice  of  any  of  them  who,  having 
disobeyed  a  summons  to  appear  before  him,  happened 
to  come  casually  into  his  presence. 

His  Lordship  is  here  attended  by  the  tipstaff  (or 
orderly),  who,  down  to  the  present  day,  follows  the  Chief 
Justice,  like  his  shadow,  wherever  he  officially  appears. 
On  this  occasion  the  Cliief  Justice  meeting  Sir  John, 
naturally  taxes  him  with  having  refused  to  obey  the 
summons  served  upon  him  to  attend  at  his  Lordship's 
chambers,  that  he  might  answer  the  information  laid 
against  him ;  and  Sir  John  tries  to  excuse  himself  by 
saying  that  he  was  then  advised  by  his  "  counsel  learned 
in  the  laws,"  that,  as  he  was  marching  to  Shrewsbury 
by  the  king's  orders,  he  was  not  bound  to  come. 

Again,  it  is  objected  that  a  Chief  Justice  could  not  be 
supposed,  by  any  person  acquainted  with  his  station  and 
functions,  to  use  such  vulgar  language  as  that  put  into 


Histories.]      KING  HENRY  THE  FOURTH. — PART  IT,  69 

the  mouth  of  Sir  William  Gascoigne  when  Falstaff 
will  not  listen  to  him,  and  that  this  rather  smacks  of 
the  butcher's  shop  in  wliich  it  is  alleged  that  young 
Shakespeare  employed  himself  in  killing  calves. 

Cli.  Just.  To  punish  yoii  by  the  heeU  •would  amend  the  attention 
of  your  ears  ;  and  I  care  not  if  I  do  become  your  physician. 

But  "  to  lay  by  the  heels  "  was  the  technical  expres- 
sion for  committing  to  prison,  and  I  could  produce  from 
the  Eeports  various  instances  of  its  being  so  used  by 
distinguished  judges  from  the  bench.  I  will  content 
myself  with  one.  A  petition  being  heard  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery,  before  Lord  Chancellor  Jeffreys,  against  a 
great  City  attorney  who  had  given  him  many  briefs  at 
the  bar,  an  affidavit  was  read,  swearing  that  when  the 
attorney  was  threatened  with  being  brought  before  my 
Lord  Chancellor,  he  exclaimed — "  My  Lord  Chancellor ! 
I  made  him!'!  Lo7'd  Chancellor  Jeffreys: — "Then  will 
I  lay  my  maker  hy  the  heeh^  A  warrant  of  commit- 
ment was  instantly  signed  and  sealed  by  the  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, and  the  poor  attorney  was  sent  off  to  the  Fleet. 

I  must  confess  that  I  am  rather  mortified  by  the 
advantage  given  to  the  fat  knight  over  my  predecessor 
in  this  encoimter  of  their  wits.  Sir  John  professes  to 
treat  the  Chief  Justice  with  profound  reverence,  inter- 
larding his  sentences  plentifully  with  ymir  Lordship — 
"  God  give  your  Lordship  good  time  of  day  :  I  am  glad 
to  see  your  Lordship  abroad  :  I  heard  say  your  Lordship 
was  sick :  I  hope  your  Lordship  goes  abroad  by  advice. 


70  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.    [Histories. 

Your  Lordship,  though  not  clean  past  your  youth,  hath 
yet  some  smack  of  age  in  you,  some  relish  of  the  salt- 
ness  of  time ;  and  I  most  humbly  beseech  your  Lord- 
ship to  have  a  reverend  care  of  your  health."  Yet 
Falstaff's  object  is  to  turn  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  into 
ridicule,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  he  splendidly  suc- 
ceeds,— insomuch  that  after  the  party  accused  of  felony 
has  vaingloriously  asserted  that  he  himself  had  done 
great  service  to  the  state,  and  that  his  name  was  terrible 
to  the  enemy,  the  Chief  Justice,  instead  of  committing 
him  to  Newgate  to  answer  for  the  robbery  at  Gadshill, 
is  contented  with  admonishing  him  to  he  honest,  and  dis- 
misses him  with  a  blessing ; — upon  which  Sir  John  is 
emboldened  to  ask  the  Chief  Justice  for  the  loan  of  a 
thousand  pounds.  To  lower  the  law  still  further,  my  Lord 
Chief  Justice  is  made  to  break  off  the  conversation,  in 
which  Falstaffs  wit  is  so  sparkling,  with  a  very  bad  pun. 

Ch.  Just.  Not  a  penny,  not  a  penny :  you  are  too  impatient  to 
bear  crosses* 

The  same  superiority  is  preserved  in  the  subsequent 
scene  (Act  ii.  Sc.  1),  where  Falstaff  being  an*ested  on 
mesne  process  for  debt  at  the  suit  of  Dame  Quickly,  he 
gains  his   discharge,   with  the    consent   of  the   Chief 


*  So  bad  is  this  pun  that  perhaps  it  may  not  be  useless  to  remind 
you  that  the  penny  and  all  the  royal  coins  then  had  impressed 
upon  them  the  sign  of  the  cross. 


Histories.]      KING  HENRY  THE  FOURTH. — PART  II.  71 

Justice,  by  saying  to  his  Lordsliip — "  My  Lord,  this  is 
a  poor  mad  soul ;  and  she  says,  up  and  down  the  town, 
that  her  eldest  son  is  like  you :"  and  by  insisting  that 
although  he  owed  the  money,  he  was  privileged  from 
arrest  for  debt,  "  being  upon  hasty  employment  in  the 
king's  affairs." 


In  Act  V.  Sc.  1,  Falstaff,  having  long  made  Justice 
Shallow  his  butt  during  a  visit  to  him  in  Gloucester- 
shire, looks  forward  with  great  delight  to  the  fun  of 
recapitulating  at  the  Boar's  Head,  East  Cheap,  Shal- 
low's absurdities;  and,  meaning  to  intimate  that  this 
would  afford  him  opportunities  of  amusing  the  Prince  of 
Wales  for  a  twelvemonth,  he  says — ■ 

"  I  will  devise  matter  enongh  out  of  this  Shallow  to  keep  Prince 
Henry  in  continual  laughter  the  wearing  out  of  sis  fashions  (which 
is  four  terms,  or  two  actions),  and  he  shall  laugh  without  inter- 
vallums." 

Dr.  Johnson  thus  annotates  on  the  "  two  actions ;" — ■ 
"  There  is  something  humorous  in  making  a  spendthrift 
compute  time  by  the  operation  of  an  action  for  debt." 
The  critic  supposes,  therefore,  that  in  Shakespeare's 
time  final  judgment  was  obtained  ia  an  action  of  debt 
in  the  second  term  after  the  writ  commencing  it  was 
sued  out ;  and  as  there  are  four  terms  in  the  legal  year, 
— Michaelmas  Term,  Hilary  Term,  Easter  Term,  and 


72       Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Histories. 


Trinity  Term — this  is  a  legal  circumlocution  for  a  twelve- 
month. It  would  seem  that  the  author  who  dealt  in 
such  pln-aseology  must  have  been  early  initiated  in  the 
mysteries  of  terms  and  actions. 


Shakespeare  has  likewise  been  blamed  for  an  extra- 
vagant perversion  of  law  in  the  promises  and  thi'eats 
which  Fal  staff  tlu'ows  out  on  hearing  that  Henry  IV. 
was  dead,  and  that  Prince  Hal  reigned  in  his  stead. 

Fal.  Master  Robert  Shallow,  choose  what  office  thou  wilt  in  the 
land,  'tis  thine. — Pistol,  I  will  double-charge  thee  with  dignities. 
*  *  *  Master  Shallow,  my  Lord  Shallow,  be  what  thou  wilt,  I 
am  Fortune's  steward.  *  *  *  Come,  Pistol,  utter  more  to  me ; 
and  withal  devise  something  to  do  thyself  good. — Boot,  boot, 
master  Shallow :  I  know  the  young  King  is  sick  for  me.  Let  us 
take  any  man's  horses  ;  the  laws  of  England  are  at  my  command- 
ment. Happy  are  they  which  have  been  my  friends,  and  ivoe  unto 
my  Lord  Chief  Justice  I — Act  v.  Sc.  4. 

But  Falstaff  may  not  unreasonably  be  supposed  to 
have  believed  that  he  could  do  all  this,  even  if  he  were 
strictly  kept  to  the  literal  meaning  of  his  words.  In 
the  natural  and  usual  course  of  things  he  was  to  become 
(as  it  was  then  called)  "  favoiu-ite  "  (or,  as  we  call  it, 
Prime  Minister)  to  the  new  king,  and  to  have  all  the 
power  and  patronage  of  the  crown  in  his  hands.  Then, 
why  might  not  Ancient  Pistol,  who  had  seen  service, 
have  been  made  War  Minister  ?    And  if  Justice  Shallow 


Histories.]      KING  HENKY  THE  FOURTH. — PART  II.  73 

had  been  pitchforked  into  the  House  of  Peers,  he  might 
have  turned  out  a  distinguished  Lmv  Lord. — By  taking 
"  any  man's  horses "  was  not  meant  stealing  them,  but 
pressing  them  for  the  king's  service,  or  appropriating 
them  at  a  nominal  price,  which  the  law  would  then 
have  justified  under  the  king's  prerogative  of  pre- 
emption. Sir  W.  Gascoigne  was  continued  as  Lord 
Cliief  Justice  in  the  new  reign ;  but,  according  to  law 
and  custom,  he  was  removable,  and  he  no  doubt  ex- 
pected to  be  removed,  from  his  office. 

Therefore,  if  Lord  Eldon  could  be  supposed  to  have 
written  the  play,  I  do  not  see  how  he  would  be  charge- 
able with  having  forgotten  any  of  his  law  while  writing  it. 


It  is  remarkable  that  wliile  Falstaff  and  his  com- 
panions, in  Act  V.  Sc.  5,  are  standing  in  Palace  Yard 
to  see  the  new  king  returning  from  his  coronation  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  Pistol  is  made  to  utter  an  expres- 
sion used,  when  the  record  was  in  Latin,  by  special 
pleaders  in  introducing  a  special  traverse  or  negation 
of  a  positive  material  allegation  of  the  opposite  side, 
and  so  framing  an  issue  of  fact  for  the  determination 
of  the  jury; — absque  Jioc,  "without  this  that;" — then 
repeating  the  allegation  to  be  negatived.  But  there  is 
often  much  difficulty  in  explaining  or  accounting  for 
the  phraseology  of  Ancient  Pistol,  who  appears  "to 
have  been  at  a  great  feast  of  languages  and  stolen  the 

F 


74       Shakespeare's  legal  acquieements.  [Histories. 


scraps ;" — so  that  if,  when  "  double  charged  with  dig- 
nities," he  had  been  called  iipon  to  speak  in  debate  as 
a  leading  member  of  the  government,  his  appointment 
might  have  been  carped  at. 


Part  II. 


In  the  speeches  of  Jack  Cade  and  his  coadjutors  in 
this  play  we  find  a  familiarity  with  the  law  and  its 
proceedings  which  strongly  indicates  that  the  author 
must  have  had  some  professional  practice  or  education 
as  a  la^vyer.  The  second  scene  in  Act  iv.  may  be 
taken  as  an  example. 

Dich.  The  first  thing  we  do,  lefs  hill  all  the  Imvyers. 

Cade.  Nay,  that  I  mean  to  do.  Is  not  this  a  lamentable  thing, 
that  the  skin  of  an  innocent  lamb  should  be  made  parchment  ? — 
that  parchment,  being  scribbled  o'er,  should  undo  a  man  ?  Some 
say  the  bee  stings  ;  but  I  say  'tis  the  bee's  wax,  for  I  did  but  seal 
once  to  a  thing,  and  I  was  never  mine  own  man  since. 

The  Clerk  of  Chatham  is  then  brought  in,  who  could 
"  make  obligations  and  write  com't  hand,"  and  who, 
instead  of  "  making  his  mark  like  an  honest  plain- 
dealing  man,"  had  been  "  so  well  brought  up  that  lie 


HiSTOKiES.]       KING  HENRY  THE  SIXTH. — PART  II.  75 

could  write  his  name."  Therefore  he  was  sentenced 
to  be  hanged  with  his  pen  and  ink-horn  about  his 
neck. 

Surely  Shakespeare  must  have  been  employed  to 
write  deeds  on  parchment  in  court  hand,  and  to  apply 
the  wax  to  them  in  the  form  of  seals:  one  does  not 
understand  how  he  should,  on  any  other  theory  of  his 
bringing  up,  have  been  acquainted  with  these  details. 


Again,  the  indictment  on  which  Lord  Say  was  ar- 
raigned, in  Act  IV.  Sc.  7,  seems  drawn  by  no  inexpe- 
rienced hand : — 

"  Thou  hast  most  traitorously  corrupted  the  youth  of  the  realm  in 
erecting  a  grammar-school :  aud  whereas,  before,  our  forefathers  had 
no  other  books  but  the  score  and  the  tally,  thou  hast  caused  print- 
ing to  be  used  ;  and  contrary  to  the  Mng,  Ms  crotvn  and  dignity, 
thou  hast  built  a  paper-mill.  It  will  be  proved  to  thy  face  that 
thou  hast  men  about  thee  that  usually  talk  of  a  noun  and  a  verb, 
and  such  abominable  luords  as  no  Christian  ear  can  endure  to  hear.* 
Thou  hast  appointed  justices  of  peace,  to  call  poor  men  before  them 
about  matters  they  were  not  able  to  answer.  Moreover  thou  hast 
put  them  in  prison ;  and  because  they  could  not  read,  thou  hast 
hanged  them,  when  indeed  only  for  that  cause  they  have  been  most 
worthy  to  live." 

How  acquired  I  know  not,  but  it  is  quite  certain 
that  the  drawer  of  this  indictment  must  have  had  some 


*    "  Inter  Christianos  non  nominand*  " 

F    2 


76  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.    [Histories. 

acquaintance  with  '  The  Crown  Circuit  Companion,'  and 
must  have  had  a  full  and  accurate  knowledge  of  that 
rather  obscure  and  intricate  subject — "  Felony  and 
Benefit  of  Clergy." 


Cade's  proclamation,  which  follows,  deals  with  still 
more  recondite  heads  of  jiu-isprudence.  Announcing 
his  policy  when  he  should  mount  the  thi-one,  he  says : — 

"  The  pi'oiidest  peer  in  the  realm  shall  not  wear  a  head  on  his 
shoulders  unless  he  pay  me  tribute :  there  shall  not  a  maid  be 
married  but  she  shall  pay  me  her  maidenhead  ere  they  have  it. 
Men  shall  hold  of  me  in  capite ;  and  we  charge  and  command  that 
their  wives  be  as  free  as  heart  can  tuish,  or  tongue  can  tell" 

He  thus  declares  a  great  forthcoming  change  in  the 
tenure  of  land  and  in  the  liabihty  to  taxation :  he  is 
to  have  a  poll-tax  like  that  which  had  raised  the  rebel- 
lion ;  but,  instead  of  coming  down  to  the  daughters  of 
blacksmiths  who  had  reached  the  age  of  fifteen,  it  was 
to  be  confined  to  the  nobility.  Then  he  is  to  legislate 
on  the  mercheta  mulierum.  According  to  Blackstone 
and  other  high  authorities  this  never  had  been  known 
in  England ;  although,  till  the  reign  of  Malcolm  III.,  it 
certainly  appears  to  liave  been  established  in  Scotland ; 
but  Cade  intimates  his  determination  to  adopt  it, — with 
this  alteration,  that  instead  of  conferring  the  privilege 
on  every  lord  of  a  manor,  to  be  exercised  within  the 


Histories.]  TROILUS  AND  CEESSIDA.  77 

manor,  he  is  to  assume  it  exclusively  for  himself  all 
over  the  realm,  as  belonging  to  his  prerogative  royal. 

He  proceeds  to  announce  his  intention  to  abolish 
tenure  in  free  soccage,  and  that  all  men  should  hold  of 
him  in  capite,  concluding  with  a  licentious  jest,  that 
although  his  subjects  should  no  longer  hold  in  free 
soccage,  "  their  wives  should  be  as  free  as  heart 
can  wish,  or  tongue  can  tell."  Strange  to  say,  this 
phi-ase,  or  one  almost  identically  the  same,  "  as  free  as 
tongue  can  speak  or  heart  can  think,"  is  feudal,  and  was 
known  to  the  ancient  law  of  England.  In  the  tenth 
year  of  King  Henry  VII.,  that  very  distinguished  judge, 
Lord  Hussey,  who  was  Chief  Justice  of  England  during 
four  reigns,  in  a  considered  judgment  delivered  the 
opinion  of  the  whole  Court  of  King's  Bench  as  to  the 
construction  to  be  put  uj)on  the  words  "as  free  as 
tongue  can  speak  or  heart  can  think."  See  Year  Book, 
Hil.  Term,  10  Hen.  VIZ,  fol.  13,  pi.  6. 


Crxjilus  anb  Cr^sstba. 


In  this  play  the  author  shows  liis  insatiable  desire  to 
illustrate  his  descriptions  of  kissing  by  his  recollection 
of  the  forms  used  in  executing  deeds.     When  Pandarus 


78      Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Tbagemes. 


(Act  III.  Sc.  2)  has  brought  Troiliis  and  Cressida  together 
in  the  Orchard  to  gratify  their  warm  inclinations,  he 
advises  TroUus  to  give  Cressida  "  a  hiss  in  fee-farm," 
which  Malone  explains  to  be  "  a  kiss  of  a  duration  that 
has  no  bounds, — a  fee-farm  being  a  grant  of  lands  in 
fee,  that  is  for  ever,  reserving  a  rent  certain." 

The  advice  of  Pandarus  to  the  lovers  being  taken,  he 
exclaims — 

"  What !  billing  again  ?  Here  's — In  witness  the  parties  inter- 
changeably  •" 

the  exact  form  of  the  testatum  clause  in  an  indenture — 
"  In  witness  whereof  the  parties  interchangeably  have 
hereto  set  their  hands  and  seals." 

To  avoid  a  return  to  this  figure  of  speech  I  may  here 
mention  other  instances  in  which  Shakespeare  intro- 
duces it.    In  'Measure  for  Measure,'  Act  iv.  Sc.  1 — 

"  But  my  kisses  bring  again 
Seals  of  love,  but  seal'd  in  vain  : " 

and  in  his  poem  of  *  Venus  and  Adonis ' — 

"  Pure  lips,  siveet  seals  in  my  soft  lips  imprinted, 
What  bargains  may  I  make,, still  to  be  sealing  ?  " 


Tragedies.]  KING  LEAR.  79 


uncj:  '§tixx. 


In  Act  I.  Sc.  4  the  Fool  makes  a  lengthy  rhyming 
sjDeech,  containing  a  great  many  trite  but  useful  moral 
maxims,  such  as — 

Have  more  than  thou  showest, 
Speak  less  than  thou  knowest,  &g., 

which  the  testy  old  King  found  rather  flat  and  tire- 
some. 

Lear.  This  is  nothing,  fool. 

Fool.  Then,  'tis  like  the  Ireath  of  an  unfeed  lawyer :  you  gave  me 
nothing  for  it. 

This  seems  to  show  that  Shakespeare  had  frequently 
been  present  at  trials  in  courts  of  justice,  and  now 
speaks  from  his  own  recollection.  There  is  no  trace  of 
such  a  proverbial  saying  as  "  like  the  breath  of  an 
unfeed  lawyer," — while  all  the  world  knows  the  proverb, 
"Whosoever  is  liis  own  counsel  has  a  fool  for  his  chent." 

How  unfeed  lawyers  may  have  comported  themselves 
in  Shakespeare's  time  I  know  not ;  but  I  am  bound  to 
say,  in  vindication  of  "  my  order,"  that  in  my  time  there 
has  been  no  ground  for  the  Fool's  sarcasm  upon  the  bar. 
The  two  occasions  when  "the  breath  of  an  unfeed 
lawyer  "  attracts  notice  in  this  generation  are  when  he 


80       Shakespeare's  legal  acquieements.  [tragedies. 

pleads  for  a  party  suing  iyi  forma  pauperis,  or  when  he 
defends  a  person  prosecuted  by  the  crown  for  high 
treason.  It  is  contrary  to  etiquette  to  take  a  fee  in  the 
one  case  as  well  as  in  the  other ;  and  on  all  such  occa- 
sions counsel,  from  a  regard  to  then'  o^vn  credit,  as  well 
as  from  conscientious  motives,  uniformly  exert  them- 
selves with  extraordinary  zeal,  and  put  forth  all  their 
learning  and  eloquence. 

I  confess  that  there  is  some  foundation  for  the  saying 
that  "  a  lawyer's  opinion  which,  costs  nothing  is  Avorth 
nothing ; "  but  this  can  only  apply  to  opinions  given 
off-hand,  in  the  course  of  common  conversation, — where 
there  is  no  time  for  deliberation,  where  there  is  a  desu'e 
to  say  what  will  be  agreeable,  and  where  no  responsi- 
bility is  incurred. 


In  Act  II.  Sc.  1,  there  is  a  remarkable  example  of 
Shakespeare's  use  of  technical  legal  phraseology. 
Edmund,  the  wicked  illegitimate  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Gloster,  having  succeeded  in  deluding  his  father  into 
the  belief  that  Edgar,  the  legitimate  son,  had  attempted 
to  commit  parricide,  and  had  been  prevented  from 
accomplishing  the  crime  by  Edmund's  tender  solicitude 
for  the  Earl's  safety,  the  Earl  is  thus  made  to  express  a 
determination  that  he  would  disinherit  Edgar  (who  was 
supposed  to  have  fled  from  justice),  and  that  he  would 
leave  all  his  possessions  to  Edmund: — 


Tragedies.]  KING  LEAR.  81 

Olo.  Strong  and  fastcn'd  villain ! 

All  ports  I'll  bar ;  tlie  villain  shall  not  'scape. 

Besides,  his  picture 
I  will  send  far  and  near,  that  all  the  kingdom 
May  have  due  note  of  him  ;t  and  of  my  land. 
Loyal  and  natural  boy,  I  '11  work  the  means 
To  make  thee  capahle. 

In  forensic  discussions  respecting  legitimacy,  the 
question  is  put,  whether  the  individual  whose  status  is  to 
be  determined  is  "cajiable,"  i.e.  capable  of  inheriting ; 
but  it  is  only  a  lawyer  who  would  express  the  idea  of 
legitimising  a  natural  soI^^  by  simply  saying — 

I  '11  work  the  means 
To  make  him  capable. 


Again,  in  Act  iii.  Sc.  5,  we  find  Edmund  trying  to 
incense  the  Duke  of  Cornwall  against  his  father  for 
having  taken  part  with  Lear  when  so  cruelly  treated 
by  Goneril  and  Began,  The  two  daughters  had  become 
the  reigning  sovereigns,  to  whom  Edmund  professed  to 
owe  allegiance.  Cornwall  having  created  Edmund 
Earl  of  Gloster  says  to  him — 


f  One  would  suppose  that  photography,  by  wliich  this  mode  of 
catching  criminals  is  now  practised,  had  been  invented  in  the  reign 
of  King  Lear. 


82         SHAKESPEAKE'S  legal  acquirements.  [Tragedies. 


"  Seek  out  where  thy  father  is,  that  he  may  be  ready  for  our 
apprehension." 

On  wliicli  Edmund  observes  aside — 

"  If  I  find  him  comforting  the  King,  it  will  stuff  his  suspicion 
more  fully." 

Ul^on  this  Dr.  Johnson  has  the  following  note : — 
"  He  uses  the  word  [comforting]  in  the  juridical  sense, 
for  supporting,  helping." 

The  indictment  against  an  accessary  after  the  fact, 
for  treason,  charges  that  the  accessary  "  comforted  "  the 
principal  traitor  after  knowledge  of  the  treason. 


In  Act  III.  Sc.  6  the  imaginary  trial  of  the  two  un- 
natural daughters  is  conducted  in  a  manner  showing  a 
perfect  familiarity  with  criminal  procedure. 

Lear  places  the  two  Judges  on  the  bench,  viz..  Mad 
Tom  and  the  Fool.  He  properly  addresses  the  former 
as  "  the  robed  man  of  justice,"  but,  although  both  were 
"of  the  commission,"  I  do  not  quite  understand  why 
the  latter  is  called  his  "yokefellow  of  equity,"  unless 
this  might  be  su^Dposed  to  be  a  special  commission, 
like  that  which  sat  on  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  including 
Lord  Chancellor  Audley. 

Lear  causes  Goneril  to  be  arraigned  first,  and  then 
proceeds  as  a  witness  to  give  evidence  against  her,  to 
prove  an  overt  act  of  high  treason : 


Tragedies.]  HAMLET.  83 


"  I  here  take  my  oath  before  this  honourable  assembly,  she  kicked 
the  poor  king,  her  father." 

But  the  trial  could  not  be  carried  on  with  perfect 
regularity  on  account  of  Lear's  madness,  and,  without 
waiting  for  a  verdict,  he  himself  sentences  Began  to  be 
anatomized : — 

"  Then,  let  them  anatomize  Regan  ;  see  what  breeds  about  her 
heart." 


nmhi. 


In  this  tragedy  various  expressions  and  allusions  crop 
out,  showing  the  substratum  of  law  in  the  author's  mind, 
— e.g.,  the  description  of  the  disputed  territory  which  was 
the  cause  of  the  war  between  Norway  and  Poland  : — 

We  go  to  gain  a  little  patch  of  ground, 

That  hath  in  it  no  profit  but  the  name. 

To  pay  five  ducats,  five,  I  would  not  fann  it, 

Nor  will  it  yield  to  Norway  or  the  Pole 

A  ranker  rate,  should  it  he  sold  in  fee.  (Act  iv.  So.  4.) 

Earlier  in  the  play  (Act  i.  Sc.  1)  Marcellus  inquires 
what  was  the  cause  of  the  warlike  preparations  in 
Denmark — 


84       Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Tragedies. 


And  why  such  daily  cast  of  brazen  cannon, 
And  foreign  mart  for  implements  of  war  ? 
Why  such  impress  of  shipivriijhts,  whose  sore  task 
Does  not  divide  the  Sunday  from  the  week'? 

Sucli  confidence  has  there  been  in  Shakespeare's 
accuracy,  that  this  passage  has  been  quoted,  both  by 
text  writers  and  by  Judges  on  the  bench,  as  an  authority 
upon  the  legahty  of  the  press-gajig,  and  upon  the  debated 
question  whether  sJiipwrigJits,  as  well  as  common  seamen, 
are  liable  to  be  pressed  into  the  service  of  the  royal 
navy.* 


Hamlet,  when  mortally  wounded  in  Act  v.  Sc.  2, 
represents  that  Death  comes  to  him  in  the  shape  of  a 
sheriff's  officer,  as  it  were  to  take  him  into  custody 
under  a  capias  ad  satisfaciendum : — 

"  Had  I  but  time  (as  this  fell  serjeant,  Death, 
Is  strict  in  his  arrest).  Oh  !  I  could  tell  you,"  &c. 


The  Grave-diggers'  scene,  however,  is  the  mine  which 
produces  the  richest  legal  ore.  The  discussion  as  to 
whether  Ophelia  was  entitled  to  Cliristian  bmial  proves 
that  Shakespeare  had  read  and  studied  Plowden's 
Keport  of  the  celebrated  case  of  Hales  v.  Petit,  tried  in 
the  reign  of  Philiji  and  Mary,  and  that  he  intended  to 


See  Barrington  on  the  Ancient  Statutes,  p.  300. 


Tragedies.]  HAMLET. 


ridicule  the  counsel  who  argued   and  tlie  Judges  who 
decided  it. 

On  the  accession  of  Mary  Tudor,  Sir  James  Hales, 
a  puisne  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas,  was  prosecuted 
for  being  concerned  in  the  plot  which  placed  the  Lady 
Jane  Grey  for  a  few  days  upon  the  throne  ;  but,  as  he 
had  previously  expressed  a  strong  opinion  that  the  suc- 
cession of  the  right  heir  ought  not  to  be  disturbed,  he 
was  pardoned  and  released  from  prison.  Nevertheless, 
so  frightened  was  he  by  the  proceedings  taken  against 
him  that  he  went  out  of  liis  mind,  and,  after  attempting 
suicide  by  a  penknife,  he  drowned  himself  by  walking 
into  a  river.  Upon  an  inquisition  before  the  Coroner,  a 
verdict  of  felo  de  se  was  returned.  Under  this  finding 
liis  body  was  to  be  buried  in  a  cross-road,  with  a 
stake  thrust  tlu-ough  it,  and  all  his  goods  were  forfeited 
to  the  crown.  It  so  happened  that  at  the  time  of 
his  death  he  was  possessed  of  a  lease  for  years  of  a 
large  estate  in  the  county  of  Kent,  granted  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  jointly  to  him  and  his  wife, 
the  Lady  Margaret,  who  survived  him.  Upon  the  sup- 
position that  this  lease  was  forfeited,  the  estate  was 
given  by  the  crown  to  one  Cyriac  Petit,  who  took 
possession  of  it, — and  Dame  Margaret  Hales,  the  widow, 
brought  this  action  against  him  to  recover  it.  The  only 
question  was  whether  the  forfeiture  could  be  considered 
as  having  taken  place  in  the  lifetime  of  Sir  James 
Hales  ;  for,  if  not,  the  plaintiff  certainly  took  the  estate 
by  survivorship. 


86  Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Tragedies, 


Her  counsel,  Serjeants  Soutlicote  and  Puttrel,  power- 
fully argued  that,  the  offence  of  suicide  being  the 
killing  of  a  man's  self,  it  could  not  be  completed  in  his 
lifetime,  for  as  long  as  he  was  alive  he  had  not  killed 
himself,  and,  the  moment  that  he  died,  the  estate  vested 
in  the  plaintiff.  "  The  felony  of  the  husband  shall  not 
take  away  her  title  by  survivorship,  for  in  this  manner 
of  felony  two  things  are  to  be  considered — first,  the  cause 
of  the  death ;  secondly,  the  death  ensuing  the  cause ; 
and  these  two  make  the  felony,  and  without  both  of 
them  the  felony  is  not  consummate.  And  the  cause  of 
the  death  is  the  act  done  in  the  party's  lifetime,  which 
makes  the  death  to  follow.  And  the  act  which  brought 
on  the  death  here  was  the  throwing  himself  voluntarily 
into  the  water,  for  this  was  the  cause  of  his  death. 
And  if  a  man  kills  himself  by  a  wound  which  he  gives 
himself  with  a  knife,  or  if  he  hangs  himself,  as  the 
wound  or  the  hanging,  which  is  the  act  done  in  the 
party's  lifetime,  is  the  cause  of  his  death,  so  is  the 
throwing  himself  into  the  water  here.  Forasmuch  as  he 
cannot  be  attainted  of  his  own  death,  because  he  is  dead 
before  there  is  any  time  to  attaint  him,  the  finding  of 
his  death  by  the  Coroner  is  by  necessity  of  law  equiva- 
lent to  an  attainder  in  fact  coming  after  his  death. 
He  cannot  be  felo  de  se  till  the  death  is  fully  con- 
summate, and  the  death  precedes  the  felony  and  the 
forfeiture." 

Walsh,  Serjeant,  contra,  argued  that  the  felony  was 
to  be  referred  back  to  the  act  which  caused  the  death. 


Tragedies.]  HAMLET.  87 

"  The  act  consists  of  three  parts :  the  first  is  the  imagina- 
tion, which  is  a  reflection  or  meditation  of  the  mind, 
whether  or  not  it  is  convenient  for  him  to  destroy  liim- 
self,  and  what  way  it  can  he  done ;  the  second  is  the 
resolution,  Avliich  is  a  determination  of  the  mind  to 
destroy  himself;  the  third  is  the  perfection,  which  is 
the  execution  of  what  the  mind  had  resolved  to  do. 
And  of  all  the  parts,  the  dohig  of  the  act  is  the  greatest 
in  the  judgment  of  our  law,  and  it  is  in  effect  the  whole. 
Then  here  the  act  done  by  Sir  James  Hales,  which  is 
evil,  and  the  cause  of  his  death,  is  the  throwing  himself 
into  the  water,  and  the  death  is  but  a  sequel  thereof." 

Lord  C.  J.  Dyer  and  the  whole  court  gave  judgment 
for  the  defendant,  holding  that  although  Sir  James  Hales 
could  hardly  be  said  to  have  killed  himself  in  his  life- 
time, "  the  forfeiture  shall  have  relation  to  the  act  done 
by  Sir  James  Hales  in  his  lifetime,  which  was  the  cause 
of  his  death,  viz.,  the  throwing  himself  into  the  water." 
Said  they,  "  Sir  James  Hales  was  dead,  and  how  came 
he  to  his  death  ?  by  drowning ;  and  who  drowned  liini  ? 
Sir  James  Hales ;  and  when  did  he  drown  him  ?  in 
his  lifetime.  So  that  Sir  James  Hales,  being  alive, 
caused  Sir  James  Hales  to  die ;  and  the  act  of  the 
living  man  was  the  death  of  the  dead  man.  He  there- 
fore committed  felony  in  liis  lifetime,  although  there  was 
no  possibility  of  the  forfeiture  being  found  in  his  lifetime, 
for  until  his  death  there  was  no  cause  of  forfeiture." 

The  argument  of  the  gravediggers  upon  Ojihelia's 
case  is  almost  in  the  words  reported  by  Plowden : — 


88       Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Tkagedil;s. 


1  Clo.  Is  she  to  be  buried  in  Christian  burial,  that  wilfully 
seeks  her  own  salvation  ? 

2  Clo.  The  crowner  hath  sate  on  her,  and  finds  it  Christian  burial. 

1  Clo,  How  can  that  be,  unless  she  drowned  herself  in  her  own 
defence  ? 

2  Clo.  Why,  'tis  found  so. 

1  Clo.  It  must  be  se  offendendo ;  it  cannot  be  else.  For  here 
lies  the  point :  if  I  drown  myself  wittingly,  it  argues  an  act ;  and 
an  act  hath  tln-ee  branches ;  it  is  to  act,  to  do,  and  to  perform. 
Argal  she  drowned  herself  wittingly.  *  *  =f=  jjere  lies  the 
water  ;  good :  here  stands  the  man ;  good.  If  the  man  go  to  this 
water  and  drown  himself,  it  is,  will  he,  nill  he,  he  goes ;  mark  you 
that :  but  if  the  water  come  to  him  and  drown  him,  he  drowns  not 
himself.  Argal  he  that  is  not  guilty  of  his  own  death  shortens 
not  his  own  life 

2  Clo.   But  is  this  law  ? 

1  Clo.  Ay,  marry  is't,  crowner's  quest  law. 


Hamlet's  own  speech,  on  taking  in  his  hand  what  he 
supposed  might  be  the  skull  of  a  lawyer,  abounds  with 
lawyer-like  thoughts  and  words  :  — 

"  Where  be  his  quiddits  now,  his  quillets,  his  cases,  his  temires, 
and  his  ti'icks  ?  Why  does  he  suffer  this  rude  knave  now  to 
knock  him  about  the  sconce  with  a  dirty  shovel,  and  will  not  tell 
him  of  his  action  of  battery  ?  Humph  !  This  fellow  might  be 
in's  time  a  great  buyer  of  land,  with  bis  statutes,  his  recog- 
nizances, his  fines,  his  double  vouchers,  his  recoveries :  is  this  the 
fine  of  his  fines,  and  the  recovery  of  his  recoveries,  to  have  his 
fine  pate  full  of  fine  dirt?  will  his  vouchers  vouch  him  no  more 
of  his  purchases,  and  double  ones  too^  than  the  length  and  breadth 
of  a  pair  of  indentures  ?  " 


TiJAGEDiES.]  MACBETH.  89 

These  terms  of  art  are  all  used  seemingly  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  their  import ;  and  it  would  puzzle  some 
practising  barristers  with  whom  I  am  acquainted  to  go 
over  the  whole  seriatim,  and  to  define  each  of  them 
satisfactorily. 


nthtih. 


In  perusing  this  unrivalled  tragedy  I  am  so  carried 
away  by  the  intense  interest  which  it  excites,  that  I  fear 
I  may  have  passed  over  legal  phrases  and  allusions 
which  I  ought  to  have  noticed ;  but  the  only  passage  I 
find  with  the  juridical  mark  upon  it  in  '  Macbeth '  is  in 
Act  IV.  Sc.  1,  where,  the  hero  exulting  in  the  assurance 
from  the  Weird  Sisters  that  he  can  receive  harm  from 
"  none  of  woman  born,"  he,  rather  in  a  lawyer-like 
manner,  resolves  to  provide  an  indemnity,  if  the  worst 
should  come  to  the  worst, — 

'*  But  yet  I'll  make  assurance  double  sure. 
And  take  a  bond  of  fate  ;" 

— without  much  considering  what  should  be  the  penalty 
of  the  bond,  or  how  he  was  to  enforce  the  remedy,  if  the 
condition  should  be  broken. 

He,  immediately  after,  goes  on  in  the  same  legal 
jargon  to  say, — 

G 


90  SHAKESPEAEE's  legal  acquirements.  [Tragedies. 


our  high-plac'd.  Macbeth 


Shall  live  the  lease  of  nature." 

But,  unlucldly  for  Macbeth,  the  lease  contained  no 
covenants  for  title  or  quiet  enjoyment : — there  were  like- 
wise forfeitures  to  be  incurred  by  the  tenant, — with  a 
clause  of  re-entry,— diA  consequently  he  was  speedily 
ousted.* 


#tljijll0. 


In  the  very  first  scene  of  this  play  there  is  a  striking 
instance  of  Shakespeare's  proneness  to  legal  phrase- 
ology : — where  lago,  giving  an  explanation  to  Koderigo 
of  the  manner  in  which  he  had  been  disappointed  in  not 
obtaining  the  place  of  Othello's  lieutenant,  notwith- 
standing the  solicitations  in  his  favour  of  "  tliree  great 
ones  of  the  city,"  says — 


*  The  lease  frequently  presents  itself  to  Shakespeare's  mind,  as 
in  '  Richard  III.,'  Act  iv.  Sc.  4 — 

Tell  me  what  state,  what  dignity,  what  honour, 
Canst  thou  demise  to  any  child  of  mine  ? 

This  is  as  clear  a  reference  to  leasing,  as  if  he  had   said  in  full, 
"  demise,  lease,  grant   and  to  farm  let." 


Tragedies.]  OTHELLO.  01 


"  But  he,  as  loving  his  own  pride  and  purposes, 
Evades  them  with  a  bombast  circumstance 
Horribly  stufTd  with  epithets  of  war, 
And,  in  conclusion. 
Nonsuits  my  mediators." 

"  Nonsuiting  "  is  known  to  the  learned  to  be  the  most 
disreputable  and  mortifying  mode  of  being  beaten :  it 
indicates  that  the  action  is  wholly  unfounded  on  the 
plaintiff's  own  showing,  or  that  there  is  a  fatal  defect  in 
the  manner  m  which  his  case  has  been  got  up :  inso- 
much that  Mr.  Chitty,  the  great  special  pleader,  used 
to  give  this  advice  to  young  barristers  practising  at  nid 
prius : — "  Always  avoid  your  attorney  when  nonsuited, 
for  till  he  has  a  little  time  for  reflection,  however  much 
you  may  abuse  the  Judge,  he  will  think  that  the 
nonsuit  was  all  your  fault." 


In  the  next  scene  Shakespeare  gives  us  very  distinct 
proof  that  he  was  acquainted  with  Admii^alty  law,  as 
well  as  with  the  procedure  of  Westminster  Hall.  De- 
scribing the  feat  of  the  ]\Ioor  in  carrying  off  Desdemona 
against  her  father's  consent,  which  might  either  make 
or  mar  his  fortune,  according  as  the  act  might  be 
sanctioned  or  nulMed,  lago  observes — 

"  Faith,  he  to-night  hath  boarded  a  land  carack : 
If  it  prove  lawful  prize,  he  's  made  for  ever  ;" — 

G   2 


92         Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements,    [Tragedies. 


the  trope  indicating  that  there  would  be  a  suit  in  the 
High  Court  of  Admiralty  to  determine  the  validity  of 
the  capture. 


Then  follows,  in  Act  i.  Sc.  3,  the  trial  of  Othello 
before  the  Senate,  as  if  he  had  been  indicted  on  Stat. 
33  Hen.  VII.  c.  8,  for  practising  "  conjuration,  witch- 
craft, enchantment,  and  sorcery,  to  provoke  to  unlawful 
love."     Brabantio,  the  prosecutor,  says — 

"  She  is  abused,  stol'u  from  me,  and  corinipted 
By  spells  and  medicines  liouglit  of  moimtebanks  ; 
For  Nature  so  preposterously  to  err     *     *     * 
Sans  witchcraft  could  not." 

The  presiding  Judge  at  first  seems  alarmingly  to 
favour  the  prosecutor,  saying — 

Duke.  Whoe'er  he  be  that  in  this  foul  proceeding 
Hath  thus  beguil'd  your  daughter  of  herself. 
And  you  of  her,  the  bloody  book  of  law 
You  shall  yourself  read,  in  the  bitter  letter, 
After  your  own  sense. 

The  Moor,  although  acting  as  his  own  counsel,  makes 
a  noble  and  skilful  defence,  directly  meeting  the  sta- 
tutable misdemeanour  with  which  he  is  charged, — and 
referring  pointedly  to  the  very  words  of  the  indictment 
and  the  Act  of  Parliament : — 


Tragedies.]  OTHELLO.  93 


"  I  will  a  round  unvarnish'd  tale  deliver 
Of  my  wliole  course  of  love  ;  what  drugs,  what  charms. 
What  conjuration,  and  what  mighty  magic 
(For  such  proceedings  I  am  charged  withal) 
I  won  his  daughter  with." 

Having  fully  opened  his  case,  showing  that  he  had  used 
no  forbidden  arts,  and  having  explained  the  course  which 
he  had  lawfully  pursued,  he  says  in  conclusion : — 

"  This  only  is  the  witchcraft  I  have  used  : 
Here  comes  the  lady — let  her  witness  it." 

He  then  examines  the  witness,  and  is  honourably 
acquitted. 


Again,  the  application  to  Othello  to  forgive  Cassio  is 
made  to  assume  the  shape  of  a  juridical  proceeding. 
Thus  Desdemona  concludes  her  addi-ess  to  Cassio,  as- 
suring him  of  her  zeal  as  his  Solicitor : — 

"  I  '11  intermingle  every  thing  he  does 
With  Cassio's  suit :  Therefore  be  merry,  Cassio ; 
For  thy  Solicitor  shall  rather  die 
Than  give  thy  cause  away." — (Act  in.  sc.  3.) 


The  subsequent  part  of  the  same  scene  shows  that 
Shakespeare  was  well  acquainted  with  all  courts,  low  as 
well  as  high ; — where  lago  asks — 


94         Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Tragedies. 


Who  has  a  breast  so  pure 
But  some  uncleanly  apprehensions 
Keep  leets  and  law-days,  and  in  session  sit 
With  meditations  lawful? 


g^nfoitw  untr  Cle0patra» 


In  '  Julius  Caesar '  I  could  not  find  a  single  instance 
of  a  Koman  being  made  to  talk  like  an  English  lawyer ; 
but  in  '  Antony  and  Cleopatra '  (Act  i.  Sc.  4)  Lepidus, 
in  trying  to  palliate  the  bad  quahties  and  misdeeds  of 
Antony,  uses  the  language  of  a  conveyancer's  chambers 
in  Lincoln's  Inn : — 

"  His  faults,  in  him,  seem  as  the  spots  of  heaven, 
More  fiery  by  night's  blackness  ;  hereditary 
Rather  than purchas\l" 

That  is  to  say,  they  are  taken  by  descent,  not  by 
purc?iase* 


*  So  in  '  the  Second  Part  of  Henry  IV.,'  Act  iv.  Sc.  4,  the  King, 
who  had  usurped  the  crown,  says  to  the  Prince  of  Wales — 

for  what  in  me  was  pwchas'd 
Falls  upon  thee  in  a  more  fairer  sort. 

i.e.  I  took  by  purclmse,  you  will  take  by  descent. 


Tragedies.]  ANTONY  AND  CLEOPATRA.  95 

Lay  geyits  (viz.,  all  except  lawyers)  understand  by 
"purchase"  buying  for  a  sum  of  money,  called  the 
price ;  but  lawyers  consider  that  "  purchase  "  is  ojDposed 
to  descent — that  all  things  come  to  the  owner  either  by 
descent  or  by  purchase,  and  that  whatever  does  not 
come  through  operation  of  law  by  descent  is  purchased, 
although  it  may  be  the  free  gift  of  a  donor.  Thus,  if 
land  be  devised  by  will  to  A.  in  fee,  he  takes  hj  purchase, 
or  to  B.  for  life,  remainder  to  A.  and  his  heirs,  B.  being 
a  stranger  to  A.,  A.  takes  by  purchase  ;  but  upon  the 
death  of  A.,  his  eldest  son  would  take  by  descent. 

English  lawyers  sometimes  use  these  terms  meta- 
phorically, like  Lepidus.  Thus  a  Law  Lord  who  has 
suffered  much  from  hereditary  gout,  although  very  tem- 
perate in  liis  habits,  says,  "  I  take  it  by  descent,  not  by 
purchased  Again,  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon,  a  very  bad 
shot,  having  insisted  on  going  out  quite  alone  to  shoot, 
and  boasted  of  the  heavy  bag  of  game  which  he  had 
brought  home,  Lord  Stowell,  insinuating  that  he  had 
filled  it  with  game  bought  from  a  poacher,  used  to  say, 
"  My  brother  takes  his  game — not  by  descent,  but  by — 
purchase ;" — this  being  a  pendant  to  another  joke  Lord 
Stowell  was  fond  of — "  My  brother,  the  Chancellor,  in 
vacation  goes  out  with  his  gun  to  kill — time." 


96       Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.  [Tuagedies. 


CDnoIiutus. 


In  this  drama,  in  which  we  sliould  not  expect  to  find 
any  aUusion  to  English  juridical  proceedings,  Shake- 
speare shows  that  he  must  have  been  present  before 
some  tiresome,  testy,  choleric  judges  at  Stratford,  War- 
wick, or  Westminster, — whom  he  evidently  intends  to 
depict  and  to  satirise, — hke  my  distinguished  friend 
Charles  Dickens,  in  Ins  famous  report  of  the  trial  of 
Bardel  v.  Piekwick,  before  Mr.  Justice  Starey,  for  breach 
of  promise  of  marriage.  Menenius  (Act  ii.  Sc.  1),  in 
reproaching  the  two  tribunes,  Sicinius  and  Brutus,  with 
their  own  offences,  which  they  forget  while  they  inveigh 
against  Coriolanus,  says — 

"  You  wear  out  a  good  wholesome  forenoon  in  hearing  a  cause 
between  an  orange-wife  and  a  posset-seller,  and  then  re-journ  the 
controversy  of  three  pence  to  a  second  day  of  audience.  When  you 
are  hearing  a  matter  behveen  party  and  party,  if  you  chance  to  be 
pinched  with  the  colic,  you  make  faces  like  mummers,  set  up  the 

bloody  flag  against  all  patience,  and  in  roaring  for  a pot 

dismiss  the  controversy  pleading  more  entangled  by  your  hearing : 
all  the  peace  you  make  in  their  cause  is,  calling  both  the  parties 
knaves." 

Shakespeare  here  mistakes  the  duties  of  tlio  Tribune 
for  those  of  the  Prcetor  ; — but  in  truth  he  was  recollecting 


Tragedies.]      COEIOLANUS — EOMEO  AND  JULIET.  97 


with  disgust  wliat  lie  had  himself  witnessed  in  his  own 
coimtry.  Nowadays  all  English  judges  are  exemplary 
for  despatch,  patience,  and  good  temper ! ! ! 


|l0me0  mxti  |ulict. 


The  first  scene  of  this  romantic  drama  may  be  studied 
by  a  student  of  the  Inns  of  Com't  to  acquu-e  a  knowledge 
of  the  law  of  "assault  and  battery,"  and  what  will 
amount  to  a  justification.  Although  Sampson  exclaims, 
"  My  naked  weapon  is  out :  quarrel,  I  will  back  thee," 
he  adds,  "  Let  us  take  the  law  of  our  sides ;  let  them 
begin."  Then  we  learn  that  neither  frowning,  nor  biting 
the  thumb,  nor  answering  to  a  question,  "Do  you  bite 
your  thumb  at  us,  Sir?"  "I  do  bite  my  thumb,  Sii-," 
— would  be  enough  to  support  the  plea  of  se  defen- 
dendo* 


*  To  show  the  ignorance  and  stupidity  of  Sir  Andrew  Agiieclieek 
('  Twelfth  Night,'  Act  iv.  So.  1)  in  supposing  that  son  assault 
demesne  (or  that  the  Plaintiff  gave  the  first  blow)  i?  not  a  good 
defence  to  an  action  of  Lattery,  he  is  made  to  say,  "  I'll  have  an 
action  of  battery  against  him,  if  there  be  any  law  in  lUyria :  thoucjh 
I  struck  hirn  first,  yet  ifs  no  matter  for  that.^' 


98  SHAKESPEAEe's  legal  acquirements.  [Tragedies, 


The  scene  ends  with  old  Montagu  and  old  Capulet 
being  bound  over,  in  the  English  fashion,  to  keep  the 
peace, — in  the  same  manner  as  two  Warwickshire  clowns, 
who  had  been  fighting,  might  have  been  dealt  with  at 
Oharlecote  before  Sir  Thomas  Lucy. 


The  only  other  scene  in  this  play  I  have  marked  to 
be  noticed  for  the  use  of  law  terms  is  that  between 
Mercutio  and  Benvolio,  in  which  they  keenly  dispute 
which  of  the  two  is  the  more  quarrelsome; — at  last 
Benvolio, — not  denying  that  he  had  quarrelled  with  a 
man  for  coughing  in  tlie  street,  whereby  he  wakened 
Benvolio's  dog  that  lay  asleep  in  the  sun, — or  that  he 
had  quaiTcUed  with  another  for  tying  his  new  shoes  with 
old  riband, — contents  himself  with  this  tu  quoque  answer 
to  Mercutio : — 

An  I  were  so  apt  to  quarrel  as  thou  art,  any  man  should  buy  the 
fee-simple  of  my  life  for  an  hov;r  and  a  quarter.    (Act  in.  Sc.  1.) 

Talking  of  the  fee-simple  of  a  mati's  life,  and  cal- 
culating how  many  hours'  purchase  it  was  worth,  is  cer- 
tainly what  might  not  unnaturally  be  expected  from  the 
clerk  of  a  country  attorney.* 


*  So  in  '  All's  Well  that  Ends  AVell'  (Act  iv.  Sc.  3)  Parolles,  the 
bragging  cowardly  soldier,  is  made  to  talk  like  a  conveyancer  in 
Lincoln's  Inn  : — "  He  will  sell  the  fee-simple  of  his  salvation  *  * 
and  cut  the  entail  from  all  remainders." 


Poems.]  VENUS  AND  ADONIS.  99 


0^ms. 


With  a  view  to  your  inquiry  respecting  the  learning 
of  Shakespeare  I  have  now,  my  dear  Mr.  Payne  Collier, 
gone  through  all  liis  plays, — and  I  can  venture  to  speak 
of  their  contents  with  some  confidence,  having  been  long 
familiar  with  them.  His  Poems  are  by  no  means  so 
well  known  to  me ;  for,  although  I  have  occasionally 
looked  into  them,  and  I  am  not  blind  to  their  beauties, 
I  must  confess  that  I  never  could  discover  in  them  (like 
some  of  his  enthusiastic  admirers)  the  same  proofs  of 
surpassing  genius  which  render  him  immortal  as  a 
dramatist.  But  a  cm-sory  perusal  of  them  does  dis- 
cover the  propensity  to  legal  thoughts  and  words  which 
might  be  expected  in  an  attorney's  clerk  who  takes  to 
rhyming. 

I  shall  select  a  few  instances,  without  unnecessarily 
adding  any  comment. 

From  Venus  and  Adonis. 

"  But  when  the  heart'' s  attorney  once  is  mute. 
The  client  hreaks  as  desperate  in  the  suitP 


"  Which  i^urchase  if  thou  make  for  fear  of  shps, 
Set  thy  seal-manual  on  my  wax-red  lips." 


"  Her  pleadivg  hath  deserved  a  greater  fee" 


100        Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements.     [Poems. 
From  the  Kape  of  Lucrece. 

"Dim  register  and  notary  of  shame." 


"  For  me  I  force  not  argument  a  straw, 
Since  that  my  case  is  itast  the  heJj)  of  law.''* 


"  No  rightful  plea  might  plead  for  justice  there. 


"  Hath  served  a  dumh  arrest  upon  his  tongue." 


From  the  Sonnets. 

"  When  to  the  sessions  of  sweet  silent  thought 
I  summon  up  remembrance  of  things  past." 


"  So  should  that  beauty  which  you  hold  in  lease. ^' 


"  And  summer's  lease  hath  all  too  short  a  date." 


And  'gainst  thyself  a  lawful  pica  commence.  * 


I'OICMS.] 


SONNETS.  101 


•'  But  be  contented  ;  when  that  fell  arrest 
Without  all  bail  shall  cany  me  away."  * 


Of  faults  concealed,  wherein  I  am  attainted.''' 


"  Which  works  on  leases  of  short  numbered  hours." 


"  Lm-d  of  my  love,  to  whom  in  vassalage 
Thy  merit  hath  my  duty  strongly  knit, 
To  thee  I  send  this  written  embassage,  "f 


•'  And  I  myself  am  mortgaged." 

"  Why  so  large  cost,  having  so  short  a  lease  ?  "J 


■  So  should  that  beauty,  which  you  hold  in  lease. 
Find  no  determination." ^    ^ 


*  Death  is  the  sherifPs  ofBcer,  strict  in  his  arrest,  and  will  take  no 

bail. 

t  This  is  the  beginning  of  a  love-letter,  in  the  language  of  a  vassal 

doing  homage  to  his  hege  lord. 

%  "raxing  an  overcharge  in  the  attorney's  bill  of  costs. 

§  The  w°ord  "  determination  "  is  always  used  by  lawyers  instead 
of  "  end." 


SANTA  BAP.BARA 


102         Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements. 


Sonnet  XL VI. 

"  Mine  Eye  and  Heart  are  at  a  mortal  war 
How  to  divide  the  conquest  of  tliy  sight ; 
Mine  Eye  my  Heart  thy  picture's  sight  would  bar, 
My  Heart  mine  Eye  the  freedom  of  that  right. 
My  Heart  doth  plead  that  thou  in  him  dost  lie 
^A  closet  never  pierced  with  crystal  eyes), 
But  the  Defendant  doth  that  plea  deny, 
And  says  in  him  thy  fair  appearance  lies. 
To  'cide  this  title  is  impannelled 
A  quest  of  thoughts,  all  tenants  to  the  Heart ; 
And  by  their  verdict  is  determined 
The  clear  Eye's  moiety,  and  the  dear  Heart's  part ; 
As  thus  :  mine  Eyes'  due  is  thine  outward  part, 
And  my  Heart's  right,  thine  inward  love  of  heart." 


I  need  not  go  further  than  this  sonnet,  which  is 
so  intensely  legal  in  its  language  and  imagery,  that 
without  a  considerable  knowledge  of  English  forensic 
procedure  it  cannot  be  fully  understood.  A  lover  being 
supposed  to  have  made  a  conquest  of  [^.  e.  to  have  gained 
by  purchase]  his  mistress,  his  Eye  and  his  Heart, 
holding  as  joint-tenants,  have  a  contest  as  to  how  she  is 
to  be  partitioned  between  them, — eacli  moiety  then  to  be 
held  in  severalty.  There  are  regular  Pleadings  in  the 
suit,  the  Heart  being  represented  as  Plaintiff  and  the 
Eye  as  Defendant.  At  last  issue  is  joined  on  what  the 
one  affirms  and  the  other  denies.  Now  a  jury  [in  the 
nature  of  an  inquest]   is  to  be  impannelled  to  'cide 


HIS  WILL.  103 

[decide]  and  by  their  verdict  to  apportion  between  the 
litigating  parties  the  subject  matter  to  be  divided. 
The  jury  fortunately  are  unanimous,  and  after  due 
deliberation  find  for  the  Eye  in  respect  of  tlie  lady's 
outward  form,  and  for  the  Heart  in  respect  of  her 
inward  love. 

Surely  Sonnet  xlvi.  smells  as  potently  of  the 
attorney's  office  as  any  of  the  stanzas  penned  by  Lord 
Kenyon  while  an  attorney's  clerk  in  Wales. 


Sl^ixlusparc's  Willi, 


Among  Shakespeare's  writings,  I  tliink  that  attention 
should  be  paid  to  his  Will,  for,  upon  a  careful  perusal, 
it  will  be  found  to  have  been  in  all  probability  composed 
by  himself  It  seems  much  too  simple,  terse,  and 
condensed,  to  have  been  the  composition  of  a  Stratford 
attorney,  who  was  to  be  paid  by  the  number  of  lines 
which  it  contained.  But  a  testator,  without  professional 
experience,  could  hardly  have  used  language  so  appro- 
priate as  we  find  m  this  will,  to  exjDress  his  meaning. 

Shakespeare,  the  greatest  of  British  dramatists, 
appears  to  have  been  as  anxious  as  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
the   greatest   of   British   novelists,  to  found  a  family. 


104  SHAKESPEARE  S  LEGAL  ACQUIREMENTS. 


although  he  does  not  require  all  his  descendants  to 
"bear  the  name  and  arms  of  Shakespeare."  But,  as 
far  as  the  rules  of  English  law  would  permit,  he  seeks 
to  perpetuate  in  an  heu-  male,  descended  from  one  of 
liis  daughters  (his  son  having  died  in  infancy,  and  there 
being  no  longer  any  prospect  of  issue  male  of  his  own), 
all  the  houses  and  lands  he  had  acquired, — which  were 
quite  sufficient  for  a  respectable  Warwickshire  squire. 
His  favourite  daughter,  Susanna,  married  to  Dr.  Hall, 
an  eminent  physician,  was  to  be  the  stirjos  from  which 
this  line  of  male  heii'S  was  to  spring;  and  the  tes- 
tator creates  an  estate  in  tail  male, — with  remainders 
over,  which,  but  for  fines  and  recoveries,  would  have 
kept  the  whole  of  liis  property  in  one  male  represen- 
tative for  generations  to  come. 

The  will,  dated  25th  March,  1616,  a  month  before 
liis  death,  having  given  legacies  to  various  friends  and 
relations,  thus  proceeds : — 


"  Item,  I  give,  will,  loequeatli,  and  devise  unto  my  daughter, 
Susanna  Hall,  for  better  enabling  of  lier  to  perform  this  my  will  and 
towards  jjerformance  thereof,  all  that  capital  messuage  or  tenement, 
with  the  appurtenances,  in  Stratford  aforesaid,  called  the  Xew  Place, 
wherein  I  now  dwell,  and  two  messuages  or  tenements  with  the 
appurtenances,  situate,  lying,  and  being  in  Henley  Street,  within 
the  borough  of  Stratford  aforesaid ;  and  all  my  barns,  stables, 
orchards,  gardens,  lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments  whatsoever, 
situate,  lying,  and  being,  or  to  be  had,  received,  perceived,  or  taken, 
within  the  toAvns,  hamlets,  villages,  fields,  and  gi-ounds  of  Stratford- 
upon-Avon,  Old  Stratford,  Bishoi^ton,  and  Welcombe,  or  in  any  of 
them,  in  the  said  county  of  "Warwick  ;  and  also  all  that  messuage 


HIS  WILL.  10^ 


or  tenement,  with  the  appurtenances,  wherein  one  John  Robinson 
dwelleth,  situate,  lying,  and  being  in  the  Blackfriars  in  London,  near 
the  Wardrobe ;  and  all  other  my  lands,  tenements,  and  heredita- 
ments whatsoever  ;  to  have  and  to  hold  all  and  singular  the  said 
premises,  with  their  appurtenances,  unto  the  said  Susanna  Hall,  for 
and  during  the  term  of  her  natural  life  ;  and  after  her  decease,  to 
the  first  son  of  her  body  lawfully  issuing,  and  to  the  heirs  males  of 
the  body  of  the  said  first  son  lawfully  issuing ;  and  for  default  of 
such  issue,  to  the  said  second  son  of  her  body  lawfully  issuing,  and  to 
the  heirs  males  of  the  body  of  the  second  son  lawfully  issuing  ;  and 
for  default  of  such  heirs,  to  the  third  son  of  the  body  of  the  said 
Susanna  lawfully  issuing,  and  to  the  heirs  males  of  the  body  of  the 
said  third  son  lawfully  issuing  ;  and  for  default  of  such  issue,  the 
same  so  to  be  and  remain  to  the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  sons 
of  her  body,  lawfully  issuing  one  after  another,  and  to  the  heirs 
males  of  the  bodies  of  the  said  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  sons 
lawfully  issuing,  in  such  manner  as  it  is  before  limited  to  be  and 
remain  to  the  first,  second,  and  third  sons  of  her  body,  and  to  their 
heirs  males  ;  and  for  default  of  such  issue,  the  said  premises  to  be 
and  remain  to  my  said  niece  Hall,  and  the  heirs  males  of  her  body 
lawfully  issuing ;  and  for  default  of  such  issue,  to  my  daughter 
Judith,  and  the  heirs  males  of  her  body  lawfully  issuing  ;  and  for 
default  of  such  issue,  to  the  right  heirs  of  me  the  said  William 
Shakespeare  for  ever." 


In  his  will,  when  originally  engrossed,  there  was  no 
notice  whatever  taken  of  his  wife;  but  immediately 
after  these"  limitations  he  subsequently  interpolated  a 
bequest  to  her  in  the  following  words  : — 

"  I  give  unto  my  wife  my  second  best  bed  with  the  furniture." 

The  subject  of  this  magnificent  gift  being  only  per- 
sonal property,  he  shows  his  technical  skill  by  omitting 

H 


106         Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements. 

the  word  devise,  whicli  he  had  used  in  disposmg  of  liis 
realty.* 


*  The  idolatrous  worshippers  of  Shakespeare,  who  think  it  neces- 
sary to  make  his  moral  qualities  as  exalted  as  his  poetical  genius, 
account  for  this  sorry  bequest,  and  for  no  other  notice  being  taken 
of  poor  Mrs,  Shakespeare  in  the  will,  by  saying  that  he  knew  she 
was  sufficiently  provided  for  by  her  right  to  dower  out  of  his  landed 
property,  which  the  law  would  give  her  ;  and  they  add  that  he  must 
have  heen  tenderly  attached  to  her,  because  (they  take  upon  them- 
selves to  say)  she  was  exquisitely  beautiful  as  well  as  strictly  vir- 
tuous. But  she  was  left  by  her  husband  without  house  or  furniture 
(except  the  second  best  bed),  or  a  kind  word,  or  any  other  token  of 
his  love ;  and  I  sadly  fear  that  between  William  Shakespeare  and 
Ann  Hathaway  the  course  of  true  love  never  did  run  smooth.  His 
boyish  inexperience  was  no  doubt  pleased  for  a  short  time  with  her 
caresses ;  but  he  probably  found  that  their  union  was  "  misgraffed 
in  respect  of  years,"  and  gave  advice  from  his  own  experience  when 
he  said, — 

"  Let  still  the  woman  take 
An  elder  than  herself ;  so  wears  she  to  him. 
So  sways  she  level  in  her  husband's  heart. 

For,  boy,  however  we  do  praise  ourselves. 
Our  fancies  are  more  giddy  and  iniirm, 
More  longing,  wavering,  sooner  lost  and  worn. 
Than  women's  are.    *     ' 
Then  let  thy  love  be  yoimger  than  thyself, 
Or  thy  affection  cannot  hold  the  bent ; 
For  women  are  like  roses  ;  whose  fair  flower. 
Being  once  displayed,  doth  fall  that  very  hour." 

To  strengthen  the  suspicion  that  Shakespeare  was  likely  not  to 
have  much  respect  for  his  wife,  persons  animated  by  the  spirit  of 
the  late  John  Wilson  Croker  (although  Shakespeare's  biographers,  in 
the  absence  of  any  register  of  his  marriage,  had  conjectured  that  it 
took  place  in  June,  1582),  by  searching  the  records  of  the  Eccle- 
siastical Court  at  Worcester,  have  lately  made  the  very  awkward 
discovery  that  the  bond  given  on  grant  of  the  licence  for  William 


RETROSPECT.  107 


Having  concluded  my  examination  of  Shakespeare's 
juridical  phrases  and  forensic  allusions, — on  the  retro- 
spect I  am  amazed,  not  only  by  their  number,  but  by 
the  accuracy  and  propriety  with  which  they  are  uni- 
formly iatroduced.  There  is  nothing  so  dangerous  a» 
for  one  not  of  the  craft  to  tamper  with  our  free-masonry. 
In  the  House  of  Commons  I  have  heard  a  county 
member,  who  meant  to  intimate  that  he  entu'ely  con- 
curred with  the  last  preceding  speaker,  say,  "  I  join  issue 
with  the  honourable  gentleman  who  has  just  sat  down  ; " 
the  legal  sense  of  which  is,  "  I  flatly  contradict  all  his 
facts  and  deny  his  inferences."  Junius,  who  was  fond 
of  dabbling  in  law,  and  who  was  supposed  by  some  to 
be  a  lawyer  (although  Sir  Philip  Francis,  then  a  clerk 
in  the  War  Office,  is  now  ascertained,  beyond  all  doubt, 
to  have  been  the  man),  in  his  address  to  the  English 
nation,  speaking  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  wishing 


Shakespeare  to  many  Ann  Eatliaway  is  dated  26tli  November,  1582, 
while  the  entry  in  the  parish  register  of  the  baptism  of  Susanna, 
their  eldest  child,  is  dated  26th  May,  1583.  As  Shakespeare,  at 
the  time  of  this  misfortune,  was  a  lad  of  eighteen  years  of  age,  and 
Miss  Hathaway  was  more  than  seven  years  his  senior,  he  could 
hardly  have  been  the  seducer  ;  and  I  am  afraid  that  she  was  "  no 
better  than  she  should  be,"  whatever  imaginaiy  personal  channs  may 
be  imputed  to  her. 

H   2 


108        Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements. 

to  say  that  the  beneficial  interest  in  the  state  belongs  to 
the  people,  and  not  to  their  representatives,  says, 
"  They  are  only  trustees ;  the  fee  is  in  us."  Now  every 
attorney's  clerk  knows  that  when  land  is  held  in  trust, 
the  fee  (or  legal  estate)  is  in  the  trustee,  and  that 
the  beneficiary  has  only  an  equitable  interest.  While 
NoveKsts  and  Dramatists  are  constantly  making  mis- 
takes as  to  the  law  of  marriage,  of  wills,  and  of  inherit- 
ance,— to  Shakespeare's  law,  lavishly  as  he  propounds  it, 
there  can  neither  be  demurrer,  nor  bill  of  exceptions, 
nor  writ  of  error. 

He  is  no  doubt  equally  accurate  in  referring  to  some 
other  professions,  but  these  references  are  rare  and  com- 
paratively slight.  Some  have  contended  that  he  must 
have  been  by  trade  a  gardener,  from  the  conversation,  in 
the  '  Winter's  Tale,'  between  Perdita,  Polixenes,  and 
Florizel,  about  raising  carnations  and  gillifiowers,  and 
the  skilful  grafting  of  fi"uit  trees.  Others  have  con- 
tended that  Shakespeare  must  have  been  bred  to  tJw  sea, 
from  the  nautical  language  in  which  directions  are  given 
for  the  mancBuvering  of  the  ship  in  the  '  Tempest,'  and 
from  the  graphic  description  in  Hemy  IV.'s  soliloquy  of 
the  "high  and  giddy  mast,"  of  the  "ruffian  billows,"  of 
the  "  slippery  shrouds,"  and  of  "  sealing  up  the  sliip 
boy's  eyes."  Nay,  notwithstanding  the  admonition  to 
be  found  in  his  works,  "Throw  physic  to  the  dogs," 
it  Ws  been  gravely  suggested  that  be  must  have  been 


HIS  EEFERENCES  TO  OTHER  PROFESSIONS.  109 

initiated  in  medicine,  from  tlie  minute  inventory  of  the 
contents  of  the  apothecaiy 's  shop  in  '  Eomeo  and  Juliet.' 
But  the  descriptions  thus  relied  upon,  however  minute, 
exact,  and  picturesque,  will  be  found  to  be  the  result  of 
casual  observation,  and  they  prove  only  nice  percep- 
tion, accurate  recollection,  and  extraordinary  power  of 
pictorial  language.  Take  the  last  instance  referred  to 
— Romeo's  pliotogrwph  of  the  apothecary  and  his  shop. 

"  Meagre  were  his  looks, 
Sharp  misery  had  worn  him  to  the  bones  : 
And  in  his  needy  shop  a  tortoise  himg, 
An  alligator  stuffed,  and  other  skins 
Of  ill-shaped  fishes ;  and  about  his  shelves 
A  beggarly  account  of  empty  boxes. 
Green  earthen  pots,  bladders  and  musty  seeds, 
Eemnants  of  packthread  and  old  cakes  of  roses, 
Were  thinly  scattered  to  make  up  a  show." 

(Act  V.  Sc.  1.) 

Any  observing  customer,  who  had  once  entered  the 
shop  to  buy  a  dose  of  rhubarb,  might  have  safely  given 
a  similar  account  of  what  he  saw,  although  utterly 
ignorant  of  Galen  and  Hippocrates.  But  let  a  non- 
professional man,  however  acute,  presume  to  talk  law, 
or  to  draw  illustrations  from  legal  science  in  discussing 
other  subjects,  and  he  will  very  speedily  fall  into  some 
laughable  absurdity. 

To  conclude  my  summing  up  of  the  evidence  under 


110        Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements. 


tliis  head,  I  say,  if  Shakespeare  is  shown  to  have 
possessed  a  knowledge  of  law,  which  he  might  have 
acquired  as  clerk  in  an  attorney's  office  in  Stratford, 
and  which  he  could  have  acquired  in  no  other  way,  we 
are  justified  in  behoving  the  fact  that  he  was  a  clerk  in 
an  attorney's  office  at  Stratford,  'without  any  du-ect 
proof  of  the  fact.  Logicians  and  jurists  allow  us  to 
infer  a  fact  of  wliich  there  is  no  direct  proof,  from  facts 
expressly  proved,  if  the  fact  to  be  inferred  may  have 
existed,  if  it  be  consistent  with  all  other  facts  known  to 
exist,  and  if  facts  known  to  exist  can  only  be  accounted 
for  by  inferring  the  fact  to  be  inferred. 

But,  my  dear  Mr.  Payne  CoUier,  you  must  not  from 
all  this  suppose  that  I  have  really  become  an  absolute 
convert  to  your  side  of  the  question.  ^Eneas,  while  in 
the  shades  below,  for  a  time  believed  in  the  reality  of  all 
he  seemed  to  see  and  to  hear;  but,  when  dismissed 
through  the  ivory  gate,  he  found  that  he  had  been 
dreaming.  I  hope  that  my  arguments  do  not  "come 
like  shadows,  so  depart."  Still  I  must  warn  you  that 
I  myself  remain  rather  sceptical.  All  that  I  can 
admit  to  you  is  that  you  may  be  right,  and  that  while 
there  is  weighty  evidence  for  you,  there  is  nothing  con- 
clusive against  you. 

Kesuming  the  Judge,  however,  I  must  lay  down  that 
your  opponents  are  not  called  upon  to  prove  a  negative, 
and  that  the  emis  probandi  rests  upon  you.     You  must 


STATE  OF  THE  EVIDENCE.  Ill 

likewise  remember  that  you  require  us  implicitly  to 
believe  a  fact,  wbicli,  were  it  true,  positive  and  irre- 
fragable evidence  in  Shakespeare's  own  handwi'iting 
might  have  been  forthcoming  to  establish  it.  Not 
having  been  actually  inroUed  as  an  attorney,  neither 
the  records  of  the  local  court  at  Stratford,  nor  of  the 
superior  courts  at  Westminster,  would  present  his  name, 
as  being  concerned  in  any  suits  as  an  attorney ;  but  it 
might  have  been  reasonably  expected  that  there  would 
have  been  deeds  or  wills  witnessed  by  him  stiU  extant ; 
— and,  after  a  very  diligent  search,  none  such  can 
be  discovered.  Nor  can  this  consideration  be  disre- 
garded, that  between  Nash's  Epistle  in  the  end  of 
the  16th  century,  and  Chalmers's  suggestion  more 
than  two  hundred  years  after,  there  is  no  hint  by  his 
foes  or  his  friends  of  Shakespeare  having  consumed 
pens,  paper,  ink,  and  pounce  in  an  attorney's  office  at 
Stratford.* 

I  am  quite  serious  and  sincere  in  what  I  have  written 
about  Nash  and  Eobert  Greene  having  asserted  the  fact ; 
but  I  by  no  means  think  that  on  this  ground  alone 
it  must  necessarily  be  taken  for  truth.     Theii*  statement 


"  Three  years  I  sat  his  smoky  room  iu, 
Pens,  paper,  ink,  and  pounce  consumin'." 

Pleaders  Quide. 


112  "         SHAKESPEARE  S  LEGAL  ACQUIREMENTS. 

that  lie  had  belonged  to  the  profession  of  the  law  may 
be  as  false  as  that  he  was  a  plagiarist  from  Seneca. 
Nash  and  Kobert  Greene  may  have  invented  it,  or  re- 
peated it  on  some  groundless  rumour.  Shakespeare 
may  have  contradicted  and  refuted  it  twenty  times ;  or, 
not  thinking  it  discreditable,  though  mitrue,  he  may 
have  thought  it  undeserving  of  any  notice.  Observing 
what  fictitious  statements  are  introduced  into  the  pub- 
lished "  Lives  "  of  living  individuals,  in  our  own  time, 
when  truth  in  such  matters  can  be  so  much  more  easily 
ascertained,  and  error  so  much  more  easUy  corrected, 
we  should  be  slow  to  give  faith  to  an  uncon-oborated 
statement  made  near  three  centuries  ago  by  persons 
who  were  evidently  actuated  by  malice.* 


*  In  several  successive  Lives  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Campbell  it  is 
related  that,  by  going  for  a  few  weeks  to  Ireland  as  Chancellor, 
he  obtained  a  pension  of  4000?.  a  year,  which  he  has  ever  since 
received,  thereby  robbing  the  public ;  whereas  in  truth  and  in 
fact,  he  made  it  a  stipulation  on  his  going  to  Ireland  that  he 
should  receive  no  pension — and  pension  he  never  did  receive — and, 
without  pension  or  place,  for  years  after  he  returned  from  Ireland 
he  regularly  served  the  public  in  the  Judicial  Committee  of  the 
Privy  Council,  and  in  the  judicial  business  of  the  House  of  Lords. 
This  erroneous  statement  is  to  be  found  in  a  recent  Life  of  Lord  C, 
which  is  upon  the  whole  laudatory  above  due  measure,  but  in  which 
the  author  laments  that  there  was  one  fault  to  be  imputed  to  him 
which  could  not  be  passed  over  by  an  impartial  biographer,  viz., 
that  he  had  most  improperly  obtained  this  Irish  pension,  which  he 


STATE  OF  THE  EVIDENCE.  113 


What  you  have  mainly  to  rely  upon  (and  this  con- 
sideration may  prevail  in  your  favour  with  a  large 
majority  of  the  literary  world)  is  the  seemingly  utter 
impossibility  of  Shakespeare  having  acquired,  on  any 
other  theory,  the  wonderful  knowledge  of  law  which  he 
undoubtedly  displays.  But  we  must  bear  in  mind  that, 
although  he  was  a  mortal  man,  and  nothing  mu-aculous 
can  be  attributed  to  him,  he  was  intellectually  the  most 
gifted  of  mankind,  and  that  he  was  capable  of  acquiring 
knowledge  where  the  opportunities  he  enjoyed  would 
have  been  insufficient  for  any  other.  Supposing  that 
John  the  father  lived  as  a  gentleman,  or  respectably 
carried  on  trade  as  one  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of 
the  town,  and  that  William  the  son,  from  the  time  of 
leaving  the  grammar-school  till  he  went  to  London, 
resided  with  his  father,  assisting  him  in  the  manage- 
ment of  his  houses  and  land  and  any  ancillary  business 
carried  on  by  him, — the  son  might  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  attending  trials  in  the  Stratford  Court  of  Ee- 
cord,  and  when  of  age  he  might  have  been  summoned 
to  serve  as  a  juryman  there  or  at  the  Court  Leet ;  he 
might  have  been  intimate  with  some  of  the  attorneys 


still  continues  to  receive  Avitliout  any  benefit  being  derived  by  the 
public  from  Lis  services. — Lord  C.  ought  to  speak  tenderly  of 
Biographers,  but  I  am  afraid  that  they  may  sometimes  be  justly 
compared  to  the  hogs  of  Westphalia,  who  without  discrimination 
pick  up  what  falls  from  one  another. 


114        Shakespeare's  legal  acquirements. 

who  practised  in  the  town  and  with  their  clerks,  and 
while  in  their  company  at  fairs,  wakes,  church  ales, 
bowling-,  bell-ringing-,  and  hui'ling-matches,  he  might 
not  only  have  picked  up  some  of  their  professional 
jargon,  but  gained  some  insight  into  the  principles  of 
their  calling,  which  are  not  without  interest  to  the 
curious. 

Moreover,  it  is  to  be  considered  that,  although 
Shakespeare  in  1589  was  unquestionably  a  shareholder 
in  the  Blackfriars  Theatre,  and  had  trod  the  boards  as 
an  actor,  the  time  when  he  began  to  write  for  the  stage 
is  uncertain ;  and  we  are  not  in  possession  of  any  piece 
wliich  we  assm-edly  know  to  have  been  written  and 
finished  by  liim  before  the  year  1592.  Thus  there  was 
a  long  interval  between  his  arrival  in  London  and  the 
publication  of  any  of  the  dramas  from  which  my  selec- 
tions are  made.  In  this  interval  he  was  no  doubt  con- 
versant with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  I  am 
sorry  to  say  I  cannot  discover  that  at  any  period  of  his 
life  Lord  Chancellors  or  Lord  Chief  Justices  showed  the 
good  taste  to  cultivate  his  acquaintance.*  But  he  must 
have  been  intimate  with  the  students  at  the  Inns  of 


*  Althougli  it  is  said  that  Shakespeare  was  introduced  to  Lord 
Chancellor  Ellesmere,  Lord  Somers  is  the  first  legal  dignitary  I 
find  forming  friendships  with  literary  men. 


STATE  OP  THE  EVIDENCE.  115 

Court,  who  were  in  the  habit  of  playing  before  Queen 
Elizabeth  at  Greenwich,  as  he  took  a  part  in  these  court 
theatricals ;  and  the  author,  in  all  probability,  was 
present  among  the  lawyers  when  *  Twelfth  Night '  was 
brought  out  at  the  Keaders'  Feast  in  the  Middle 
Temple,  and  when  '  Othello '  was  acted  at  Lord  Chan- 
cellor EUesmere's  before  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Shakespeare,  duriug  his  first  yeai'S  in  London,  when 
his  purse  was  low,  may  have  dined  at  the  ordinary  in 
Alsatia,  thus  described  by  Dekker,  where  he  may  have 
had  a  daily  surfeit  of  law,  if,  with  his  universal  thirst  for 
knowledge,  he  had  any  desire  to  drink  deejjly  at  this 
muddy  fountain : 

"  There  is  another  ordinary  at  which  your  London  usurer,  your 
stale  bachelor,  and  your  thrifty  attorney  do  resort ;  the  price  three- 
pence ;  the  rooms  as  full  of  company  as  a  gaol ;  and  indeed  divided 
into  several  wards,  like  the  beds  of  an  hospital.  *  *  *  jf  they 
chance  to  discourse,  it  is  of  nothing  but  of  statutes,  bonds,  recog- 
nizances, fines,  recoveries,  audits,  rents,  subsidies,  sureties,  en- 
closures, liveries,  indictments,  outlawries,  feoffments,  judgments, 
commissions,  bankrupts,  amercements,  and  of  such  horrible  matter." 
— Dekker^s  Guilds  Ilonihook,  1609. 

In  such  company  a  willing  listener  might  soon  make 
great  progress  in  law ;— and  it  may  be  urged,  that  I 
have  unconsciously  exaggerated  the  difficulty  to  be 
encountered  by  Shakespeare  in  picking  up  his  know- 


116  SHAKESPEARE  S  LEGAL  ACQUIREMENTS. 

ledge  of  that  wliich  I  myself  Lave  been  so  long  labouring 
to  understand.  Many  may  think  that  Shakespeare 
resembles  his  o^vn  Prince  Hal,  when  reformed  and 
become  Henry  V.,  who,  not^^dthstanding  his  revels  in 
East  Cheap,  and  with  no  apparent  opportunities  of 
acquiring  the  knowledge  he  displayed,  astonished  the 
world  with  his  universal  wisdom  : 

"  Hear  him  but  reason  in  divinity, 
And,  all-admiring,  with  an  inward  wish. 
You  would  desire  the  king  were  made  a  prelate. 
Hear  him  debate  of  commonwealth  affairs. 
You  would  say,  it  hath  been  all-in-all  his  study. 
List  his  discourse  of  war,  and  you  shall  hear 
A  fearful  battle  render'd  you  in  music. 
Turn  him  to  any  cause  of  policy, 
The  Gordian  knot  of  it  he  will  unloose 
Familiar  as  his  garter ;   that,  when  he  speaks, 
The  air,  a  chartered  libertine,  is  still. 
And  the  mute  wonder  lurketh  in  man's  ears 
To  steal  his  sweet  and  honeyed  sentences  ; 
So  that  the  art,  and  practick  part  of  life, 
Must  be  the  mistress  to  this  thcorick." 

Iltnry  V.,  Act  i.  Sc.  1. 

We  cannot  argue  with  confidence  on  the  principles 
which  would  guide  us  to  safe  conclusions  respecting 
ordinary  men,  when  we  are  reasoning  respecting  one  of 
whom  it  was  truly  said  : 


CONCLUSION.  117 


"  Each  change  of  many-coloured  life  he  drew, 
Exhausted  worlds,  and  then  imagined  new ; 
Existence  saw  him  spurn  her  bounded  reign. 
And  panting  Time  toiled  after  him  in  vain." 

And  now,  my  dear  Mr.  Payne  Collier,  I  must  con- 
clude. Long  ago,  I  dare  say,  you  were  heartily  sorry 
that  you  ever  thought  of  taking  the  opinion  of  counsel 
on  this  knotty  point ;  and  at  last  you  may  not  only 
exclaim,  "  I  am  no  wiser  than  I  was,"  but  shaking  your 
head,  like  old  Demipho  in '  Terence,'  after  being  present 
at  a  consultation  of  lawyers  on  the  validity  of  his  son's 
marriage,  you  may  sigh  and  say,  "  Incertior  sum  multo 
quam  dudum." 

However,  if  my  scepticism  and  my  argumentation 
(worthy  of  Serjeant  Eitherside)  should  stimulate  you 
deliberately  to  reconsider  the  question,  and  to  com- 
municate yom'  matured  judgment  to  the  world,  I  shall 
not  have  doubted  or  hallucinated  in  vain.  By  another 
outpouring  of  your  Shakespearian  lore  you  may  entirely 
convince,  and  at  all  events  you  will  much  gratify, 
Your  sincere  admirer  and  friend, 

(Signed)  Campbell. 


THE  END, 


LONDON: 

PRIKTED  BY  W.  CLOWES  AND  SONS,  STAUFOBS  STREET, 
AND  CHARING  CROSS. 


Albemarlk  Street,  London. 
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CLIVE'S  (Lord)    Life.    By  Rev.  G.  R.  Gleig,  M.A.    Post  Svo,    6«. 
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Cliaucer  to  Wordsworth.    4  Vols.  Svo.    In  Preparation. 

ENGLAND  (History  of)  from  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  to  the  Peace 
of  Versailles,  1713-83.  By  Lord  Mahon.  Library  Edition,  7  Vols. 
Svo,  93s.;  oi;  Popular  Edition,!  Yols.    Post  Svo.    35s. 

From  the  First  Invasion  by  the  Romans, 

down  to  the  14th  year  of  Queen  Victoria's  Keign.    By  Mks.  Mabkham. 
QSth  Edition.    Woodcuts.     12mo.     6s. 

As  IT   IS  :  Social,   Political,   and   Industrial,   in  the 

19th  Century.    By  W.  Johnston.    2  Vols,    Post  Svo.  ISs. 

and  France  under  the  House  of  Lancaster.    With  an 


Introductory  View  of  the  Early  Reformation.   Second  Edition.  Svo.    lus. 
ENGLISHWOMAN    IN  AMERICA.     Post  Svo.     lOs.  6d. 

RUSSIA :    or.  Impressions   of  Manners 

and  Society  during  a  Ten  Years'  Eesideuce   in  that   Country.    Fifth 
Thousand.    Woodcuts.    Post  Svo.    10s.  Gd. 

ERSKINE'S  (Capt.,  R.N.)  Journal  of  a  Cruise  among  the  Islands 
of  the  Western  Pacific,  including  the  Fejees,  and  others  inhabited  by 
the  Polynesian  Negro  Kaces.    Plates.    Svo.    ICs. 

ESKIMAUX  (The)  and  English  Vocabulary,  for  the  use  of  Travellers 

in  the  Arctic  Regions.     16mo.    3s.  Gd. 
ESSAYS   FROM  "THE    TIMES."     Being  a  Selection  from  the 

Literary  Papers  which  have  appeared  in  that  Journal.    Ith  Thousand. 

2  vols.    Fcap.  Svo.    8s. 

EXETER'S  (Bishop  of)  Letters  to  the  late  Charles  Butler,  on  the 
Theological  parts  of  his  Book  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church;  with 
Remarks  on  certain  Works  of  Dr.  Milner  and  Dr.  Lingard,  and  on  some 
parts  of  the  Evidence  of  Dr.  Doyle.     Second  Edition.    Svo.    16s. 

FAIRY  RING  (The),  A  Collection  of  Tales  and  Stories  for  Young 
Persons.  From  tlie  German.  By  J.  E.  Taylor.  Illustrated  by  Richard 
Doyle.    Second  Edition.    Fcap.  Svo. 

FALKNER'S  (Fred.)  Muck  Manual  for  the  Use  of  Farmers.     A 

Treatise  on  the  Nature  and  Value  of  Manures.    Second  Edition,  yiith  a. 
Glossary  of  Terms  and  an  Index.    Fcap.  Svo.    5s. 

FAMILY  RECEIPT-BOOK.  A  Collection  of  a  Thousand  Valuable 
and  Useful  lieceipts.    Fcap.  Svo.    5s.  Qd, 


12  LIST  OF  WORKS 


FANCOURT'S  (Col.)  History  of  Yucatan,  from  its  Discovery 
to  the  Close  of  the  17th  Century.    "Witli  Map.    8vo.    10s,  6a!. 

FEATHERSTONHAUGH'S  (G.  W.)  Tour  through  the  Slave  States 
of  North  America,  from  the  River  Potomac,  to  Texas  and  the  Frontiers 
ef  Mexico.    Plates.    2  Vols.    8vo.    26s. 

FELLOWS'  (Sir  Charles)  Travels  and  Researches  in  Asia  Minor, 
more  particularly  in  the  Province  of  Lycia.  New  Edition.  Plates.  Post 
8vo.    9s. 

FERGUSSON'S    (James)    Palaces     of    Nineveh    and     Persepolis 

Kestored :  an  Essay  on  Ancient  Assyrian  and  Persian  Architecture. 
With  45  Woodcuts.    8vo.    16»-. 

Handbook    of   Architecture.      Being    a 

Concise  and  Popular  Account  of  the  Different  Styles  prevailing  in  all 
Ages  and  Countries  in  the  World.  With  a  Description  of  the  most  re- 
markahle  Buildinss.  /'oiO'fA  TAoMsonrf.  With  850  Illustrations.  8vo.  26*. 

FERRIER'S  (T.  P.)   Caravan  Journeys  in   Persia,     Affghanistan, 

Herat,  Turkistan,  and  Beloochistan,  with  Descriptions  of  Meshed,  Balk, 
and  Candahar,  and  Sketches  of  the  Nomade  Tribes  of  Central  Asia. 
Second  Edition.    Map.    Svo.  21s. 

History  of  the  Afghans.     Map.     Svo.    21s. 

FEUERBACH'S  Remarkable  German  Crimes  and  Trials.  Trans- 
lated from  the  German  by  Lady  Duff  Gobdox.    8vo.    12s. 

FISHER'S  (Rev.  George)  Elements  of  Geometry,  for  the  Use  of 

Schools.   I^ijth  Edition.    ISmo.    Is.  &d. 

First  Principles  of  Algebra,    for  the  Use  of   Schools. 

Fifth  Edition.    18mo.     Is.  6d. 

FLOWER  GARDEN  (The).  An  Essay.  By  Rev.  Thos.  James. 
Reprinted  from  the  "  Quarterly  Review."    Fcap.  Svo.    Is. 

FORD'S  (Richard)  Handbook  for  Spain,  Andalusia,  Ronda,  Valencia, 
Catalonia,  Granada,  Gallicia,  Arragon,  Navarre,  &c.  Third  Edition. 
2  Vols.    Post  Svo.    30s. 

■ Gatherings  from  Spain.     Post  Svo.     65. 

FORSTER'S  (John)  Historical  &  Biographical  Essays.    Contents:— 


IV.  Daniel  De  Foe. 

V.  Sir  Richard  Steele. 
\l.  Charles  Churchill. 
VII.  Samuel  Foote. 


I.  The  Grand  Remonstrance,  1G41. 
II.  The  Plantagenets  and  tlie  Tudors. 
111.  The  Civil  AVars  and  Oliver  Crom- 
well. 

2  Vols.     Post  Svo.    21.?. 

FORSYTH'S  (William)  Hortensius,  or  the  Advocate :  an  Historical 

Essay  on  the  Otlice  and  Duties  of  an  Advocate.    Post  Svo.    12s. 

History   of   Napoleon    at    St.   Helena.      From  the 

Letters  and  Journals  of  Sm  Hudson  Lowe.  Portrait  and  Maps.  3  Vols. 
Svo.    45s. 

FORTUNE'S  (Robert)  Narrative  of  Two  Visits  to  China,  between 
the  years  1843-52,  with  full  Descriptions  of  the  Culture  of  the  Tea 
Plant.     Third  Edition.    Woodcuts.     2  Vols.     Post  Svo.     18s. 

Residence   among    the    Chinese :     Inland,   on    the 

Coast,  and  at  Sea,  during  1853-56.     Woodcuts.    Svo.     16s. 

FRANCE  (History  of).  From  the  Conquest  by  the  Gauls  to  the 
Death  of  Louis  Philippe.  By  Mrs.  M.^rkham.  5G<A  Thousand.  Wood- 
cuts.   12mo.    6s. 


PUBLISHED  BY  MR.   MURRAY.  13 


FRENCH  (The)  in  Algiers  ;  The  Soldier  of  the  Foreign  Legion— 
and  the  Prisoners  of  Abd-el-Kadir.  Translated  by  Lady  Duff  Gouno>r. 
Post   8vo.    2s.  6d. 

GALTON'S  (Francis)  Art  of  Travel ;  or,  Hints  on  the  Shifts  and 
Contrivances  available  in  Wild  Countries.  Second  Edition.  Wood- 
cuts.   Post  8vo.    6s. 

GEOGRAPHICAL  (The)  Journal.  Published  by  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society  of  London.    8vo. 

GERMANY  (History  of).  From  the  Invasion  by  Mariu.s,  to  the 
present  time.  On  the  plan  of  Mrs.  Maekham.  Ninth  Thousand.  Woodcuts. 
12mo.    6s. 

GIBBON'S  (Edward)  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  A 
Kiw  Edition.  Preceded  by  his  Autobiography.  Edited  'n'ith  Notes 
by  Dr.  Wm.  Smith.    Maps.    8  Vols.    8vo.    60s. 

The     Student's    Gibbon;    Being   the   History  of   the 

Decline  and  Fall,  Abridged,  incorporating  the  Researches  of  Recent 
Commentators.  By  Dr.  Wm.  Smith.  Si.xth  Thousand.  Woodcuts.  Post 
Svo.     7s.  Gd. 

GIPFARD'S  (Edward)  Deeds  of  Naval  Daring;    or.  Anecdotes  of 

the  British  Navy.    2  Vols.     Fcap.  Svo. 

GISBORNE'S  (Thomas)  Essays  on  Agriculture.  Third  Edition. 
Post  Svo. 

GLADSTONE'S  (W.  E.)  Prayers  arranged  from  the  Liturgy  for 
Family  Use.    Second  Edition.    12mo.    2s.  C)d. 

GOLDSMITH'S  (Oliver)  Works.  A  New  Edition.  Printed  from 
the  last  editions  revised  by  the  Author.  Edited  by  Peter  Cuxnino- 
ham.  Vignettes.    4  Vols.  Svo.    SOs.     (Murray's  British  Classics.) 

GLEIG'S  (Rev.  G.  R.)  Campaigns  of  the  British  Army  at  Washing- 
ton and  New  Orleans.    Post  Svo.    2s.  6d. 

Story  of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,     Compiled  from  Public 

and  Authentic  Sources.    Post  Svo.    5s. 

Narrative  of  Sir  Robert  Sale's  Brigade  in  Afghanistan, 

with  an  Account  of  the  Seizure  and  Defence  of  Jellalabad.  Post  Svo.  2s.  Gd. 

Life  of  Robert  Lord  Clive.     Post  8vo.     5s. 


Life  and   Letters  of  General  Sir  Thomas  Munro.     Post 


Svo.    5s. 


GORDON'S  (Sir  Alex.  Duff)  Sketches  of  German  Life,  and  Scenes 
from  the  War  of  Liberation.     From  the  German.    Post  Svo.    6s. 

(Lady    Duff)    Amber- Witch  :    the   most   interesting 


Trial  for  Witchcraft  ever  known.    From  the  German.  Post  Hvo.   2.s-.  6rf. 
French    in    Algiers.      1.  The  Soldier  of  the  Foreicrn 


Legion.      2.    The    Prisoners    of     Abd-el-Kadir.      From    the    Frencli. 
Post  Svo.    2s.  Gd. 

Remarkable   German   Crimes    and    Trials.    From  the 


German  of  Fuerbach.    Svo.    12s. 

GRANT'S  (Asahel)  Nestorians,  or  the  Lost  Tribes  ;  containing 
Evidence  of  their  Identity,  their  Manners.  Customs,  and  Ceremonies  ; 
■with  Sketches  of  Tr.avel  in  Ancient  Assyria,  Armenia,  and  Mesopotamia  ; 
and  Illustrations  of  Scripture  Prophecy.    Third  Edition.    Fcap  Svo.    ts. 


14  LIST  OF  WORKS 


GRENVILLB  (The)  PAPERS.  Being  the  Public  and  Private 
Correspondence  of  George  Grenville,  his  Friends  and  Contemporaries, 
during  a  period  of  30  years. —  Including  his  Diary  of  Political 
Events  while  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury.  Edited,  with  Notes,  by 
W.  J.  Smith.    4  Vols.    8ro.    16s.  each. 

GREEK  GRAMMAR  FOR  SCHOOLS.  Abridged  from  Matthisp. 
By  the  Bishop  of  London.  Xinth  Edition,  revised  by  Rev.  J.  Edwards. 
12mo.    3s. 

GREY'S  (Sir  George)  Polynesian  Mythology,  and  Ancient 
Traditional  History  of  the  New  Zealand  Kace.  Woodcuts.  Post 
8vo.    10s.  Qd. 

GROTE'S  (George)  History  of  Greece.  From  the  Earliest  Times 
to  the  close  of  the  generation  contemporary  with  the  death  of  Alexander 
the  Great.     Third  Edilion.    Maps  and  Index.    12  vols.    8vo.    16s.  each. 

GROSVENOR'S  (Lord  Robert)  Leaves  from  my  Journal  during 

the  Summer  of  1851.    Second  Edition.    Plates.    Post  8vo.    3s.  6cZ. 
GUSTAVUS  VASA  (History  of),  King  of  Sweden,  With  Extracts 

from  his  Correspondence.    Portrait.    8vo.     10s.  Gd. 
HALLAM'S  (Henry)  Constitutional  History  of  England,  from  the 

Accession  of  Henry  the  Seventh  to  the  Death  of  George  the  Second. 

Seventh  Edition.    3  Vols.    8vo.    30s. 

History     of    Europe     during     the     Middle     Ages, 

Tenth  Edition.    3  Vols.    8vo.    30s. 

Introduction  to  the  Literary  History  of  Europe,  during 


the  16th,  17th,  and  ISth  Centuries.    Fourth  Edition.    3  Vols.    8vo.  36s, 
Literary  Essays   and  Characters.     Selected  from  the 


last  work.    Fcap.  8vo.    2s. 

Historical  Works,      Containing  the  History  of  Eng- 
land,—The  Jliddle  .\c:es   of  F-urope,— .and  the   Literary   History  of 
Europe.      Compute  Edition.    10  Vols.    Post  8vo.    6s.  each. 
HAMILTON'S  (James)  Wanderings  in  Northern  Africa,  Benghazi, 
Cyrene,  the  Oasis  of  Siwah,  &c.  Sf.ccnd  Edition.  V.'oodcuts.  Post  8vo.  12s. 

(Walter)  Hindostan,  Geographically,  Statistically, 

and  Historically.    Map.    2  Vols.    4to.    94s.  Qd. 

HAMPDEN'S  (Bishop)  Essay  on  the  Philosophical  Evidence  of 
Christianity,  or  the  Credibility  obtained  to  a  Scripture  Revelation 
from  its  Coincidence  with  the  Facts  of  Nature.    8vo.    Qs.Gd. 

HARCOURT'S  (Edward  Vernon)  Sketch  of  Madeira ;  with  Map 

and  Plates.    Post  Svo.    8s.  6rf. 
HART'S  ARMY  LIST.    {Quarterly  and  Annually)     Svo. 
HAY'S  (J.  H.  Drummond)  Western  Barbary,  its  wild  Tribes  and 

savage  Animals.     Post  Svo.    2s.  Qd. 
HEBER  (Bishop)  Parish  Sermons;    on   the  Lessons,  the  Gospel, 

or  the  Epistle,  for  eveiy  Sunday  in  the  Year,  and  for  Week-day  Festivals, 

Sixth  Edition.    2  Vols.    Post  Svo.    16s. 

Sermons  Preached  in  England.  Second  Edition.  Svo,  9s,  Qd. 

^^— ^—  Hymns  written  and  adapted  for  the  weekly  Church 
Service  of  the  Year.     Twelfth  Edition.    16mo.    2s. 

Poetical    Works.    Fifth  Edition.    Portrait.    Fcap,  Svo. 

7s.  &d. 

Journey  through  the  Upper  Provinces  of  India,  From 

Calcutta  to  Bombay,  with  a  Journey  to  Madras  and  the  Southern  Pro- 
vinces,   2  Vols.   Post  Svo,    12s, 


PUBLISHED  BY  MR.  MURRAY.  15 


HAND-BOOK     OP     TEAVEL-TALK ;      or.     Conversations    in 
English,  German,  I'rench,  and  Italian.    18mo.    3s.  Gd. 

NORTH    GERMANY— Holland,    Belgium,    and 

the  Rhine  to  Switzerland.    Map.    Post  8vo.    10s. 

SOUTH    GERMANY— Bararia,  Austria,  Salzberg, 

the  Austrian  and  Bavarian  Alps,  the  Tyrol,  and  the  Danube,  from  Ulm 
to  the  Black  Sea.    Map.    Post  Svo.    10s. 


PAINTING— the   German,    Flemish,   and  Dutch 

Schools:     From   the  German  of  Kuglek.    A  Xeio  Edition,     Edited  by 
Dr.  Waagen.     Woodcuts.    Post  Svo.    {In  the  Press.) 

SWITZERLAND— the  Alps  of  Savoy,  and  Tiedmont. 


Maps.    Post  Svo.    9s. 

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SPAIN — Andalusia,    Ronda,     Granada,    Valencia, 


Catalonia,  Gallicia,  Arragon,  and  Navarre.  Maps.  2  Vols.  Post  Svo.  30s. 

PORTUGAL,  LISBON,  &c.     Map.     Post  Svo.     9s. 

PAINTING — Spanish  and  French   Schools.      By 


Sir  Edmund  Head,  Bart.   Woodcuts.    Po.«t  Svo.     12s. 

NORTH    ITALY— Florence,  Sardinia,  Genoa,  the 


Riviera,  Venice,  Lombardy,  and  Tuscany.  Map.  Post  Svo.  2  Vols.  12s. 

CENTRAL    ITALY— South    Tuscany    and    the 


Papal  States.    Map.    Post  Svo.    7s. 

ROME— AND  ITS    ENVIRONS.     Map.      Post 


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PAINTING— the    Italian  Schools.     From   the  Ger- 


manofKUGLER.   Edited  by  Sir  Charles  Eastlake,  R.  A.    Woodcuts. 
2  Vols.  Post  Svo.     30s. 

ITALIAN   PAINTERS:     (A  Short  Biographical 


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and  Macedonia.    Maps.    Post  Svo.    15s. 

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Armenia,  Mesopotamia,  &c.    Maps.    Post  Svo. 

EGYPT— Thebes,    the    Nile,    Alexandria,     Cairo, 


the  Pyramids,  Jlount  Sinai,  &c.    Map.    Post  Svo.   15s. 

SYRIA     AND    PALESTINE;    the    Peninsula    of 

Sinai,  Edom,  and  the  Syrian  Desert.     Maps.    2  Vols.    Post  Svo.    24s. 

INDIA. — Part   1.      Bombay    and    Madras.      Map. 

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DENMARK — Norway  and  Sweden.    Maps.    Post 

Svo.    15s. 

RUSSIA — The  Baltic  and  Finland.  Maps,     Post 

Svo.    12s. 


15  LIST  OF  WORKS 


HANDBOOK  OF  LONDON,  Past  and  Pkesent.    Alphabetically 


MODERN     LONDON.    A    Guide   to  all    objects 

of  interest  in  the  Metropolis.    Blap.    16mo.  5«. 

ENVIRONS  OF  LONDON.     Including  a  Circle  of 


30  Miles  round  St.  Paul's.     Maps.     Post  8vo.     [In  preparation.) 

DEVON    AND   CORNWALL.     Maps.     Post  8vo. 

WILTS,  DORSET,  AND  SOMERSET.     Map.    Post 


8vo. 
KENT  AND    SUSSEX.     Map.     Post  8vo.     lOs. 

SURREY,     HANTS,    and     the    Isle    of    Wight. 

Maps.     Post  8vo.    Is.  M. 

WESTMINSTER    ABBEY— its   Art,   Architecture, 

and  Associations.    Woodcuts.    16mo.    Is. 

CATHEDRALS    OF   ENGLAND,     Post  8vo.    In 


Preparation. 
PARIS.     Post  8vo.     {In  Preparation.) 


i  FAMILIAR  QUOTATIONS.   Chiefly  from  English 

Authors.     Third  Edition.    Fcap.  Svo.    5s. 
ARCHITECTURE.     Being  a  Concise  and  Popular 

Account  of  the  Different  Styles  prevailiug  in  all  Ages  and  Countries. 

By    James    Fergusson.     Fourtli,    Thousand.     'SVith  850   Illustrations. 

Svo.    26s. 
ARTS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    AGES    AND    RE- 

naissance.    By  M.  Jules  Laharte.    With  200  Illustrations.    Svo.  18s. 
HEAD'S  (Sir  Fkancis)  Rough  Notes  of  some  Rapid  Journeys  across 

the  Pampas  and  over  the  Andes.    Post  8vo.    2s.  6rf. 

Descriptive    Essays :    contributed    to    the   "  Quarterly 

Review."    2  Vols.    Post  Svo.    18s. 

. Bubbles  from  the  Brunnen  of  Nassau.     By  an  Old  Man. 

Sixth  Edition.    16mo.    5s. 
—  EmigTant.     Sixth  Edition.     Fcap.  Svo.     2s.  6d. 

■ Stokers  and  Pokers;  or,  the  London  and  North- Western 

Railway.     Post  Svo.    2s.  Qd. 

Defenceless  State  of  Great  Britain.    Post  8vo.     lis. 

■  Faggot    of     French    Sticks;    or.   Sketches    of    Paris. 

■  Kew  Edition.    2  Vols.     Post  Svo.    12s. 

. Fortnight  in  Ireland.    Second  Edition,    ilap.    Svo.    12*. 

-  (Sir  George)   Forest  Scenes  and  Incidents   in  Canada. 

Second  Edition.    Post  Svo.    10s. 

Home   Tour   through    the    Manufacturing  Districts    of 

England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  including  the  Channel  Islands,  and  the 
Isle  of  Man.     Third  Edition.    2  Vols.   Post  Svo.    12s. 

(Sir    Edmund)    Handbook   of  Painting — the    Spanish 

and  French    Schools.     With  Illustrations.    Post  Svo. 

Shall  and  Will;  or,  Two  Chapters  on  Future  Auxiliary 

Verbs.     S'cond  Edition,  Enlarged.    Fcap.  Svo.    -l^. 


PUBLISHED   BY  MR.  MURRAY.  17 


HEIRESS   (The)  in  Her  Minority ;   or.  The  Progress  of  Character. 

By  tlie  Author  of  "Bertha's  Journal."     2  Vols.    12rao.    l&s. 

HERODOTUS.      A  New  English  Version.      Edited  with  Note?, 

and  Essays.  By  Rev.  G.  Rawlinson-,  assisted  by  Sir  IIexuy 
Rawlinson,  and  Sir  J.  G.  Wilkinson.  Maps  and  Woodcuts.  4  Vols. 
870.     18*.  each. 

HERVEY'S  (Lord)  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  George  the  Second, 
from  his  Accession  to  the  Death  of  Queen  Caroline.  Edited,  with  Notes 
by  Mr.  Croker.    Second  Edition.      Portrait,    2  Vols.  Svo.    2U. 

HICKMAN'S  (Wm.)  Treatise  on  the  Law  and  Practice  of  Naval 
Courts  Martial.    Svo.    10s.  Qd. 

HILLARD'S  (G.  S.)  Six  Months  in  Italy.    2  Vols,    Post  Svo.    165. 

HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND  AND  FRANCE  under  the  House 
OF  Lancaster.  With  an  Introductory  View  of  the  Early  Reformation. 
Second  Edition.    Svo.    15s. 

HOLLAND'S  (Rev.  W.  B.)  Psalms  and  Hymns,  selected  and 
adapted  to  the  various  Solemnities  of  tlie  Church.  Third  Edition.  2toio. 
Is.  Zd. 

HOLLWAY'S  (J.  G.)  Month  in  Norway,     Fcap,  Svo,     2s. 

HONEY  BEE  (The),  An  Essay,  By  Rev.  Thomas  James, 
Reprinted  from  the  "  Quarterly  Review."     Fcap.  Svo.    Is. 

HOOK'S  (Rev.  Dr.)  Church  Dictionary,    Eighth  Edition.    Svo.  16«, 

Discourses   on  the  Religious   Controversies   of   the  Day. 


Svo.    9s. 

(Theodore)  Life,     By  J,  G.  Lockhart.     Reprinted  from  the 

"  Quarterly  Review."    Fcap.  Svo.    Is. 

HOOKER'S  (Dr.  J.  D.)  Himalayan  Journals  ;  or,  Notes  of  an  Oriental 
Naturalist  in  Bengal,  the  Sikkim  and  Nepal  Himalayas,  the  Khasia 
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HOOPER'S  (Lieut.)  Ten  Months  among  the  Tents  of  the  Tiiski ; 
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NICOLAS'  (Sir  Harris)  Historic  Peerage  of  England.  Exhi- 
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28  LIST  OF  WORKS 


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SHAW'S  (Thos.  B.)  Outlines  of  English  Literature,  for  the  Use  of 
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the  Treasury.    Edited,  with  Notes.    4  Vols.     Svo.    64s. 

(James  &  Horace)  Rejected  Addresses.     Twenty-third 

Edition,    Fcap.Svo.  Is.,  or  Fine  Paper,  with  Portrait.  Fcap.  Svo.  5s. 


30  LIST  OF  WORKS 


SOMERVILLE'S  (Mary)  Phj'sical  Geography.  Fourth  Edition. 
Portrait.    Post  8vo.    9*. 

Connexion    of   the   Physical    Sciences.      Ninth 

Edition.    Woodcuts.    Post  8vo.    9s. 

SOUTH'S  (John  F.)  Household  Surgery ;  or,  Hints  on  Emergen- 
cies.   Seventeenth  Thousand.    Woodcuts.    Fcp.  Svo.    4s.  M. 

SOUTHEY'S  (Eobekt)  Book  of  the  Church  ;  with  Kotes  contain- 
ing the  Authorities,  and  an  Index.    Seventh  Edition.    Post  Svo.    7s.  Qd. 

Lives  ofJohnBunyan&  Oliver  Cromwell.  Post8Y0.2s.6rf. 

SPECKTER'S  (Otto)  Puss  in  Boots,  suited  to  the  Tastes  of  Old 
and  Young.    A  New  Edition.    With  12  Woodcuts.    Square  12mo.  Is.  Qd. 

Charmed  Eoe ;  or,  the  Story  of  the  Little  Brother 

and  Sister.  Illustrated.    16mo. 

STANLEY'S  (Rev.  A.  P.)  Addeesses  and  Charges  of  the  Late 
Bishop  Stanley.  AVith  a  Memoir  of  his  Life.  Second  Edition.  Svo. 
10s.  6d. 

Sermons  preached  in  Canterbury  Cathedral,  on  the 


Unity  of  Evangelical  and  Apostolical  Te.aching.    Post  Svo. 

Commentary  on  St.  Paul's  Epistles  to  the  Corin- 


thians,  with  Notes  and  Dissertations.     Second,    and  revised  Edition. 
Svo.    iSs. 

Historical  Memorials  of  Canterbury.    The  Landing  of 


Augustine — The  Murder  of  Becket — The  Black  Prince— The  Shrine  of 
Becket.     Third  Edition.    Woodcuts.    Post  8vo.    7s.  6d. 

Sinai  and  Palestine,  in  Connexion  with  their  History. 


Fifth  Edition.    Map.    Svo.    16s. 

ST.  JOHN'S  (Charles)  Wild  Sports  and  Natural  History  of  the 

Highlands.    Post  Svo.    6s. 

(Bayle)  Adventures  in  the  Libyan  Desert  and  the 

Oasis  of  Jupiter  Ammon.    Woodcuts.    Post  Svo.    2s.  6d. 

STEPHENSON'S    (George)    Life.     The   Railway  Engineer.     By 

Saiiuel  Smiles.    Fifth  Edition.    Portrait.    Svo.    16s. 

STOTHARD'S  (Thos.,  R.  A.)  Life.     With  Personal  Reminiscences. 
By  Mrs.  Brat.     With  Portrait  and  60  Woodcuts.    4to, 

STREET'S  (G.  E.)  Brick  and  Marble  Architecture  of  Italy,  in  the 

Middle  Ages.    Plates.    Svo.    21s. 

STRIFE  FOR  THE  MASTERY.    Two  Allegories,    With  Illus- 
trations.   Crown  Svo.   6s. 
SWIFT'S    (Jonathan)    Life,    Letters    and    Journals.     By    John 

FoRSTEB.    Svo.     In  Preparation. 

Works.    Edited,  with  Notes.    By  John  Foestek.    Svo. 

In  Preparation. 

SYDENHAM'S   (Lord)    Memoirs.    With  his   Administration  in 

Canada.  By  G.PouletSceope,M.P.  Second  Edition.  Portrait.  Svo.  9s.6d. 
SYME'S  (Jas.)  Principles  of  Surgery.     Fourth  Edition.    Svo.    14s. 
TAYLOR'S  (Henry)  Notes  from  Life.     Fcap  Svo.   2s. 
(J.  E.)  Fairy  Ring.     A  Collection  of  Stories  for  Young 

Persons.    From  the  Gennan.    With  Illustrations  by  Kichabd  Doyle. 

Second  Edition.    Woodcuts.    Fcap.  Svo. 


TENNENT'S  (Sir  J.  E.)  Christianity  in  Ceylon,  Its  Introduction 
and  Progress  under  the  Portuguese,  Dutch,  British,  and  American  Mis- 
sions. With  an  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Brahmanical  and  Buddhist 
Superstitions.     Woodcuts.    8vo.  Us. 

THREE-LEAVED  MANUAL  OF  FAMILY  PRAYER ;  arranged 

so  as  to  save  the  trouble  of  turning  the  Pages  backwards  and  forwards. 
Royal  8vo.     2s.  , 

TICKNOR'S  (George)  History  of  Spanish  Literature.  With  Criti- 
cisms on  particular  Works,  and  Biographical  Notices  of  Promineut 
Writers.    Second  Edition.    3  Vols.    8vo.    '2is. 

TOCQUEVILLE'S  (M.  de)  State  of  France  before  the  Revolution, 
1789,  and  on  the  Causes  of  that  Event.  Translated  by  Henry  Keeve, 
Esq.  Svo.    14s. 

TREMENHEERE'S  (H.  S.)  Political  Experience  of  the  Ancients, 

in  its  bearing  on  Modem  Times.    Fcap.  Svo.    2s.  6d. 

__^ Notes  on   Public  Subjects,  made   during   a 

Tour  in  the  United  States  and  Canada.    Post  Svo.    10s.  Gd. 

Constitution   of  the  United  States  compared 


with  our  own.    Post  Svo.    9s.  6d. 
TWISS'  (Horace)  Public  and  Private  Life  of  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon, 
with  Selections  from  his  Correspondence.      Portrait.     Third  Edition. 
2  Vols.    Post  Svo.    21s. 

TYTLER  (Patrick  Fraser),  A  Memoir  of.     By  his  Friend,  Rev. 

J.  AV.  BuRGON,  M.A.    Svo.     Ill  the  Press. 
UBICINI'S  (M.  A.)  Letters  on  Turkey  and   its  Inhabitants— the 
Moslems,  Greeks,  Armenians,  &c.      Translated   by  Lady  Easthope. 
2  Vols.   Post  Svo.    21s. 

VAUGHAN'S  (Rev.  Dr.)  Sermons   preached  in  Harrow  School. 

8vo.    10s.  6d. 

New  Sermons.     12mo.     5s. 

VENABLBS'  (Rev.  R.  L.)  Domestic  Scenes  in  Russia  during  a 
Year's  Residence,  chiefly  in  the  Interior.    Secojid  Edition.    Post  Svo.  5s. 

VOYAGE  to  the  Mauritius  and  back,  toucliing  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  and  St.  Helena.  By  Author  of  "  Paddiana."  Post  Svo.  9s.  6i. 

WAAGEN'S  (Dr.)  Treasures  of  Art  in  Great  Britain,  Being  an 
Account  of  the  Chief  Collections  of  Paintings,  Sculpture,  Manuscripts, 
Miniatures,  &c,  &c.,  in  this  Country.  Obtained  from  Personal  Inspec- 
tion during  Visits  to  England.    3  Vols.    Svo.    36s.         ,       ,       „  . 

Galleries  and  Cabinets  of  Art  in   England.    Being 

an  Account  of  move  than  Forty  Collections,  visited  in  lS5i-56  and 
never  before  described.    With  Index.    Svo.    18s. 

WADDINGTON'S    (Dean)    Condition     and    Prospects    of    the 

Greek  Cliurch.    Neio  Edition.    Fcap.  Svo.    3s.  6d'. 
■WAKEFIELD'S   (E.    J.)    Adventures   in  New    Zealand.      With 

some   Account  of  the  Beginning  of  the  British  Colonisation  of  the 

Island.    Map.    2  Vols.    Svo.    28s. 
WALKS  AND  TALKS.    A  Story-book  for  Young  Children.    By 

AtJNTlDA.    With  Woodcuts.    16mo.    5s. 

wA-R-n'q  CT?oRFRT  Plumer)  Memoir,  Correspondence,  Literary  and 
^"^^^rnpEed  2™    aid  Remains.     By  iL  Hon.  Eomuko  Phipps. 
Portrait.    2  Vols.    Svo.    2Ss. 


32       LIST  OF  WORKS  PUBLISHED  BY  MR.  MURRAY. 


WATT'S  (James)  Life.  Incorporating  the  most  interesting  pas- 
sages from  his  Private  and  Public  Correspondence.  By  Jajies  P. 
MuiRHEAD,  M.A.    Portraits  and  Woodcuts.  •  8vo.    IGs. 

Origin  and  Progress  of  his  Mechanical  Inventions.  Illus- 
trated by  his  Correspondence  with  his  Friends.  Edited  by  J.  P. 
MuiRHEAD.  .Plates.    3  vols.    8vo.  45s.,  or  Large  Paper.    3  Vols.    4to. 

WELLINGTON'S  {The  Duke  of)  Despatches  during  his  various 
Campaigns.  Compiled  from  Official  and  other  Authentic  Documents.  By 
COL.GURWOOD,  C.B.     New  Enlarged  Edition.    8  Vols.    8vo.    21s.  each. 

Supplementary  Letters,  Despatches,  and  other 

Papers.    Edited  by  his  Son.    Vols.  1  and  2.    Svo.  20j.  each. 

Selections    from    his   Despatches  and   General 


Orders.    By  Colonel  Gorwood.     Svo.    18s. 
■ Speeches  in  Parliament.    2  Vols.     Svo.    42s. 


WILKIE'S  (Sir  David)  Life,  Journals,  Tours,  and  Critical  Remarks 

on  Works  of  Art,  with  a  Selection  from  his  Correspondence.    By  Allan 

Cunningham.    Portrait.  3  Vols.    Svo.    42s. 
WILKINSON'S  (Sir  J.  G.)  Popular  Account  of  the  Private  Life, 

Manners,   and   Customs  of    the     Ancient    Egyptians.      New    Edition. 

Revised  and  Condensed.  .With  500  Woodcuts.   2  Vols.   Post  Svo.    12s. 
Dalmatia  and   Montenegro  ;    with   a  Journey  to 

Mostar  in  Hertzegovina,  and  Remarks  on  the  Slavonic  Nations.    Plates 

and  Woodcuts.    2  Vols.  Svo.    42s. 

Handbook  for  EgjT)t.— Thebes,   the  Nile,   Alex- 


andria, Cairo,  the  Pyramids,  Mount  Sinai,  &c.    Map.    Post  Svo.     15 

On  Colour,  and  on  the  Necessity  for  a  General 


Diffusion  of  Taste  among  all  Classes;  with  Remarks  on  laying  cut 
Dressed  or  Geometrical  Gardens.  With  Coloured  Illustrations  and 
AVoodcuts.    Svo.     18s. 

(G.  B.)  Working  Man's  Handbook  to  South  Aus- 


tralia;  with  Advice  to  the  Farmer,  and  Detailed  Information  for  the 
several  Classes  of  Labourers  and  Artisans.    Map.    ISmo.    Is.  Gd. 

WOOD'S   (Lieut.)   Voyage  up   the   Indus  to   the   Source  of   the 

River  Oxns,  by  Kabul  and  Badakhshan.    Map.    Svo.    14s. 
WORDSWORTH'S  (Rev.  Dr.)  Athens  and  Attica.    Journal  of  a 

Tour.     Third  Edition.    Plates.    Post  Svo.    8s.  ed. 
. Greece:  Pictorial,  Descriptive,  and  Historical, 

with  aHistory  of  Greek  Art, by  G.  Scharf,  F.S.A.    New  Edition.    With 

600  Woodcuts.    Royal  Svo.     28s. 

King  Edward  Vlth's  Latin  Grammar,  for  the 


Use  of  Schools.    V2th  Edition,  Ye\ise.Oi.    12mo.    Zs.&d. 

First  Latin  Book,  or  the   Accidence,  Syntax 


and  Prosody,  with  English  Translation  for  Junior  Classes.      Third 
Edition.    12mo.    2s. 

WORNUM  (Ralph).  A  Biographical  Dictionary  of  Italian  Painters  : 

with  a  Table  of  the  Contemporary  Schools  of  Italy.     By  a  Lady. 

Post  Svo.    6s.6rf. 
YOUNG'S  (Dr.   Thos.)    Life   and  Miscellaneous    Works,    edited 

by  Dean  Peacock  and  John  Leitch.    Portrait  and  Plates.    4  Vols. 

Svo.    15s.  each. 


BBADBURY    A»D    EVANS,    PRINTERS,   WBITEFRTARS 


3  1205  03059  0309 


